Ricoh Company, Ltd. Issued New U.S. Toner Patent Number 9008546

[news]

Ricoh Company, Ltd. Issued New U.S. Toner Patent Number 9008546
Patent Issued for Image Carrier, Process Cartridge, and Image Forming Apparatus

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering — Ricoh Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, JP) has been issued patent number 9008546, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews editors.

The patent's inventors are Taguchi, Nobuyuki (Kanagawa, JP); Hatori, Satoshi (Kanagawa, JP); Kumagai, Naohiro (Kanagawa, JP); Yoshino, Kaoru (Tokyo, JP); Ninomiya, Hiromichi (Kanagawa, JP); Azeyanagi, Yuta (Kanagawa, JP); Kuboshima, Yasuhito (Tokyo, JP); Seki, Hideyasu (Chiba, JP); Gotoh, Ryohta (Tokyo, JP).

This patent was filed on November 7, 2013 and was published online on April 14, 2015.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "Example embodiments generally relate to an image carrier, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image carrier for carrying an image and a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus incorporating the image carrier.

"Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, or multifunction printers having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile, plotter, and other functions, typically form an image on a recording medium according to image data. Thus, for example, a charger uniformly charges a surface of a photoconductor; an optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the image data; a development device supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor to render the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image; the toner image is directly transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording medium or is indirectly transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording medium via an intermediate transfer belt; finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording medium bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the recording medium, thus forming the image on the recording medium.

"Such photoconductor may be a photoconductive drum incorporating a shaft penetrating the photoconductive drum to enhance the mechanical strength of the photoconductive drum.

"For example, JP-2009-063967-A discloses a flange inserted by press fit into the tubular photoconductive drum at each lateral end of the photoconductive drum in an axial direction thereof. The shaft is inserted into a through-hole produced in each flange. Thus, the photoconductive drum incorporating the shaft achieves an enhanced mechanical strength against bending and deformation.

"However, an abutment member contacting the photoconductive drum may exert an increased force to the photoconductive drum or an increased number of abutment members may contact the photoconductive drum. Further, the photoconductive drum may have a decreased outer diameter or an increased length in the axial direction thereof. Accordingly, the photoconductive drum is susceptible to bending and deformation."

Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "At least one embodiment provides a novel image carrier that includes a tubular image carrier body to carry an image on an outer circumferential surface thereof, a shaft disposed inside the image carrier body, a first flange mounted on the shaft, and a second flange spaced apart from the first flange in an axial direction of the image carrier and mounted on the shaft. Each of the first flange and the second flange includes a through-hole contacting the shaft, a first engagement portion to engage a lateral end of the image carrier body in the axial direction of the image carrier, and a second engagement portion, constituting at least a part of the through-hole, to engage the shaft. The second engagement portion is disposed inboard from the first engagement portion in the axial direction of the image carrier.

"At least one embodiment provides a novel process cartridge, detachably attachable to an image forming apparatus, that includes the image carrier described above.

"At least one embodiment provides a novel image forming apparatus that includes the image carrier described above.

"Additional features and advantages of example embodiments will be more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the associated claims."

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Taguchi, Nobuyuki; Hatori, Satoshi; Kumagai, Naohiro; Yoshino, Kaoru; Ninomiya, Hiromichi; Azeyanagi, Yuta; Kuboshima, Yasuhito; Seki, Hideyasu; Gotoh, Ryohta. Image Carrier, Process Cartridge, and Image Forming Apparatus. U.S. Patent Number 9008546, filed November 7, 2013, and published online on April 14, 2015. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=9008546.PN.&OS=PN/9008546RS=PN/9008546

Ricoh Company, Ltd. Issued New U.S. Toner Patent Number 9008546
Patent Issued for Image Carrier, Process Cartridge, and Image Forming Apparatus

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering — Ricoh Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, JP) has been issued patent number 9008546, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews editors.

The patent's inventors are Taguchi, Nobuyuki (Kanagawa, JP); Hatori, Satoshi (Kanagawa, JP); Kumagai, Naohiro (Kanagawa, JP); Yoshino, Kaoru (Tokyo, JP); Ninomiya, Hiromichi (Kanagawa, JP); Azeyanagi, Yuta (Kanagawa, JP); Kuboshima, Yasuhito (Tokyo, JP); Seki, Hideyasu (Chiba, JP); Gotoh, Ryohta (Tokyo, JP).

This patent was filed on November 7, 2013 and was published online on April 14, 2015.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "Example embodiments generally relate to an image carrier, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image carrier for carrying an image and a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus incorporating the image carrier.

"Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, or multifunction printers having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile, plotter, and other functions, typically form an image on a recording medium according to image data. Thus, for example, a charger uniformly charges a surface of a photoconductor; an optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the image data; a development device supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor to render the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image; the toner image is directly transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording medium or is indirectly transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording medium via an intermediate transfer belt; finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording medium bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the recording medium, thus forming the image on the recording medium.

"Such photoconductor may be a photoconductive drum incorporating a shaft penetrating the photoconductive drum to enhance the mechanical strength of the photoconductive drum.

"For example, JP-2009-063967-A discloses a flange inserted by press fit into the tubular photoconductive drum at each lateral end of the photoconductive drum in an axial direction thereof. The shaft is inserted into a through-hole produced in each flange. Thus, the photoconductive drum incorporating the shaft achieves an enhanced mechanical strength against bending and deformation.

"However, an abutment member contacting the photoconductive drum may exert an increased force to the photoconductive drum or an increased number of abutment members may contact the photoconductive drum. Further, the photoconductive drum may have a decreased outer diameter or an increased length in the axial direction thereof. Accordingly, the photoconductive drum is susceptible to bending and deformation."

Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "At least one embodiment provides a novel image carrier that includes a tubular image carrier body to carry an image on an outer circumferential surface thereof, a shaft disposed inside the image carrier body, a first flange mounted on the shaft, and a second flange spaced apart from the first flange in an axial direction of the image carrier and mounted on the shaft. Each of the first flange and the second flange includes a through-hole contacting the shaft, a first engagement portion to engage a lateral end of the image carrier body in the axial direction of the image carrier, and a second engagement portion, constituting at least a part of the through-hole, to engage the shaft. The second engagement portion is disposed inboard from the first engagement portion in the axial direction of the image carrier.

"At least one embodiment provides a novel process cartridge, detachably attachable to an image forming apparatus, that includes the image carrier described above.

"At least one embodiment provides a novel image forming apparatus that includes the image carrier described above.

"Additional features and advantages of example embodiments will be more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the associated claims."

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Taguchi, Nobuyuki; Hatori, Satoshi; Kumagai, Naohiro; Yoshino, Kaoru; Ninomiya, Hiromichi; Azeyanagi, Yuta; Kuboshima, Yasuhito; Seki, Hideyasu; Gotoh, Ryohta. Image Carrier, Process Cartridge, and Image Forming Apparatus. U.S. Patent Number 9008546, filed November 7, 2013, and published online on April 14, 2015. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=9008546.PN.&OS=PN/9008546RS=PN/9008546

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April 23, 2015 at 11:30 AM