The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 09, 2015
Filed:
Jul. 08, 2013
Daisuke Tomita, Kanagawa, JP;
Takeshi Shintani, Kanagawa, JP;
Norio Kudo, Kanagawa, JP;
Kenji Honjoh, Kanagawa, JP;
Satoshi Hatori, Kanagawa, JP;
Naohiro Kumagai, Kanagawa, JP;
Akira Fujimori, Kanagawa, JP;
Kaoru Yoshino, Tokyo, JP;
Yuta Azeyanagi, Kanagaway, JP;
Hideyasu Seki, Chiba, JP;
Ryohta Gotoh, Tokyo, JP;
Daisuke Tomita, Kanagawa, JP;
Takeshi Shintani, Kanagawa, JP;
Norio Kudo, Kanagawa, JP;
Kenji Honjoh, Kanagawa, JP;
Satoshi Hatori, Kanagawa, JP;
Naohiro Kumagai, Kanagawa, JP;
Akira Fujimori, Kanagawa, JP;
Kaoru Yoshino, Tokyo, JP;
Yuta Azeyanagi, Kanagaway, JP;
Hideyasu Seki, Chiba, JP;
Ryohta Gotoh, Tokyo, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A lubricant applicator includes a block of lubricant, a supply member contactable against the block of lubricant to scrape the block of lubricant, and a lubricant gauge including a first electrode and a second electrode. The lubricant gauge is electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode to detect whether an amount of lubricant remaining is less than a threshold value based on establishment of electrical continuity between the first electrode and the second electrode. One of the first electrode and the second electrode includes a projection projecting toward the other one of the first electrode and the second electrode.