Patents Examined by Leslie A. Nicholson, III
  • Patent number: 11530515
    Abstract: The invention relates to a paper making machine (1) comprising a forming section (2) in which a fibrous web (W) can be formed, a drying section (5) in which a formed fibrous web (W) can be dried; and a reel-up (11) on which a dried fibrous web (W) can be wound into a roll (12). The paper making machine (1) is arranged to carry a fibrous web (W) in the machine direction (MD) along a predetermined path (P) and the paper making machine (1) has at least one water jet cutting device (17, 18, 19) arranged to cut the fibrous web (W) that is moving in the machine direction (MD) such that the fibrous web (W) is divided into at least one waste part (23a, 23b, 30) and a remaining part (24, 29). The paper making machine (1) is arranged to direct the at least one waste part (23a, 23b, 30) away from the predetermined path (P) and to convey the remaining part (24, 29) further in the machine direction (MD) along the predetermined path (P).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: VALMET AKTIEBOLAG
    Inventor: Scott McClure Wightwick
  • Patent number: 11518642
    Abstract: In a crimp-binding device, a sheet jam less occurs when binding processing is performed. A sheet crimp-binding device includes: a conveying path along which a sheet is conveyed in a predetermined conveying direction; a placing part on which the sheet conveyed along the conveying path is placed; a stack part provided at a location downstream from the placing part in the sheet conveying direction; a discharge unit that discharges the sheet from the placing part to the stack part; a shift unit that moves the sheet placed on a placing position on the placing part in a direction along a sheet surface and perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction; a crimp-binding unit that applies crimp-binding processing to sheets that have been moved in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction by the shift unit to a crimp-binding position; a recognition unit that recognizes count information of a sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: CANON FINETECH NISCA INC.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Shimizu, Daiju Shimizu
  • Patent number: 11518641
    Abstract: To provide an image forming apparatus having a sheet processing apparatus installed in an in-body space, capable of discharging sheets of different sizes without interfering with discharge operation of the sheet processing apparatus in a compact configuration. An image forming apparatus has a sheet binding unit disposed in an in-body space part thereof, a first conveying path for conveying the sheet discharged to the in-body space part toward the sheet binding unit, and a second conveying path for conveying the sheet discharged to the in-body space part toward a second stack tray that stacks thereon the sheet vertically below a first stack tray disposed outside the in-body space part. The second conveying path extends, inside the in-body space part, substantially horizontally between an image forming part and the sheet binding unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: CANON FINETECH NISCA INC.
    Inventors: Masaya Takahashi, Kota Hihara
  • Patent number: 11520268
    Abstract: A sheet binding processing apparatus includes a conveying portion, a conveying path for sheets, a stacking portion on which sheets from the conveying path are stacked, a first regulating portion for regulating a sheet bundle on the stacking portion in a crossing direction, a second regulating portion for regulating a sheet bundle in the conveying direction, a manual setting portion for setting sheets from an outside of the apparatus, and a binding device which binds a sheet bundle by a staple and moves in the crossing direction. An angular posture of the binding device located at a third position is different from an angular posture located at a first position. An angular posture of the binding device located at the third position is different from an angular posture located at a second position. The second position is located at a second side of the first position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: CANON FINETECH NISCA INC.
    Inventors: Yusuke Obuchi, Hideto Abe, Masaya Takahashi, Seiji Nishizawa
  • Patent number: 11520269
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a paper discharging tray and a paper detection part disposed at an upstream end of the paper discharging tray in a paper discharge direction. The paper detection part includes a base end member provided rotatably around a first axis extending in a direction perpendicular to a paper discharge direction and a tip member pivoted to the base end member to rotate around a second axis parallel to the first axis, and extending downwardly to incline toward an upstream side of the paper discharge direction in a state where the base end member is not subjected to pressure from the paper being discharged. The base end member is disposed to face a discharge opening when being at the reference position, and the image forming apparatus stops discharging paper from the discharge opening when the base end member rotates by a predetermined threshold or more with respect to the reference position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Shibayama, Yuki Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 11518639
    Abstract: A paper ejection apparatus including: paper ejection trays to which printed sheets are selectively ejected; a main tray disposed lower than the paper ejection trays; an inspection result acquirer configured to acquire an inspection result of each of the printed sheets; a paper ejection controller configured to control paper ejection such that each of the printed sheets is ejected to the paper ejection trays before the inspection result is obtained by the inspection result acquirer; and a tray information manager configured to manage by associating identification information of each of the paper ejection trays with the inspection result of each of the printed sheets ejected on the paper ejection trays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Ji Xie
  • Patent number: 11511960
    Abstract: A stapling device of a paper finishing device of one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a stapler including an entrance into which one side of paper is inserted, a moving part including a stapler moving bracket on which the stapler is seated and a moving roller installed on the stapler moving bracket, a driving part which moves the stapler moving bracket, a base frame on which the stapler moving bracket and the driving part are installed, and which includes a horizontal guide surface extending along the one side of the paper, a first corner stapling guide surface spaced apart from the horizontal guide surface, and a first inclined guide surface which diagonally connects the horizontal guide surface and the first corner stapling guide surface, and a position guide part which is installed on the base frame and includes a second corner stapling guide surface and a second inclined guide surface which diagonally connects the horizontal guide surface and the second corner stapling guide surface and is in
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Inventors: Yong Suk Choi, Seung Kyoon Noh
  • Patent number: 11511961
    Abstract: A sheet processing device includes a first conveyance passage, a first conveyor, a second conveyor, a folder, a second conveyance passage, and circuitry. The circuitry is configured to (1) cause the first conveyor and the second conveyor to convey the sheet nipping the sheet to warp the sheet between the first conveyor and the second conveyor, (2) guide the warped sheet to form a first fold on the sheet by the folder and circulate the sheet to the first conveyance passage, (3) cause the first conveyor and the second conveyor to convey the sheet while nipping the sheet again to warp the sheet between the first conveyor and the second conveyor, (4) guide the warped sheet to form a second fold on the sheet by the folder, and (5) cause the second conveyor to convey the sheet with the first fold and the second fold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yusuke Tanaka, Kentaroh Fukami, Atsushi Kuriyama, Yuuki Nakagawa, Takato Mochizuki, Toshihisa Hioki, Takuya Fukuhara, Ryoh Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11498793
    Abstract: A medium transport device includes a lower guide member, a processing tray, a feeding section, and a notch. The lower guide member supports a medium transported and guides the medium toward the processing tray. The processing tray includes an alignment member, and a plurality of media are stacked in the processing tray. The feeding section includes a paddle member having a rotation center between the processing tray and the lower guide member such that a rotation locus of a distal end intersects the lower guide member, and the feeding section is configured to feed the medium toward the alignment member. The lower guide member has a notch, and an upstream end of the notch in the transport direction is formed at a position inside the rotation locus in the lower guide member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Furumido, Atsushi Nakazawa, Akinobu Nakahata
  • Patent number: 11498791
    Abstract: The subject matter of the present invention is a method and a device for producing an adhesive tape (1). First a material web (2) comprising a carrier tape material is supplied from an unwinding unit (3). The supplied material web (2) is subsequently provided on at least one surface with at least one adhesive strip (4) in a coating unit (6). The material web (2) provided with the adhesive strip (4) is then cut into at least two longitudinal strips with the aid of a cutting device (10) and made up into individual adhesive tapes (1). According to the invention, a sensor (8, 9) scanning the material web is used to align the material web (2) and/or the cutting device (10) in the transverse direction (Q) in such a way that a longitudinal cut (S) respectively produced with the aid of the cutting device (10) is introduced in an exact position into the material web (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: CERTOPLAST TECHNISCHE KLEBEBAENDER GMBH
    Inventors: Peter Rambusch, Rene Rambusch, Kay Ruhnau
  • Patent number: 11498795
    Abstract: A sheet stacking tray includes a first conveyor, a second conveyor, a sheet stopper, a first full-load detector, a second full-load detector, and a plurality of motors. The plurality of motors maintain the sheet stopper at a protruding position to block a sheet conveyed by the first conveyor until the first full-load detector outputs a signal indicating that a sheet bundle is fully loaded, shift the sheet stopper to a lowered position to allow the sheet bundle to pass when the first full-load detector outputs the signal indicating that the sheet bundle is fully loaded, drive the first conveyor and the second conveyor together to convey the sheet bundle when the sheet stopper shifts to the lowered position, and stop the second conveyor and drive only the first conveyor, when the second full-load detector detects a leading edge of the sheet bundle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Shinoda, Naoki Oikawa
  • Patent number: 11492227
    Abstract: A sheet post-processing apparatus including a binding mechanism, a tray, a shift mechanism, and a control unit is provided. The binding mechanism is configured to apply binding to a sheet. The sheet applied with the binding is stacked on the tray. The shift mechanism is configured to perform a shift operation in which a side surface of the sheet is pushed and the sheet is deviated in a sheet width direction orthogonal to a discharge direction during discharge of the sheet to the tray. The control unit is configured to cause the shift operation to be performed by dividing the number of times for the shift operation into a plurality of times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshiaki Sugizaki
  • Patent number: 11485601
    Abstract: A sheet post-processing device includes a folding portion, a discharge portion, a stacking tray, a shift unit, a pair of alignment members, and a controller. The pair of alignment members include first and second alignment members at one and the other side of sheets stacked on the stacking tray. When a sheet bundle sorted and stacked on the stacking tray includes a folded sheet, executes a second alignment mode in which it performs, for sheets shifted to a first position at one side on the stacking tray, alignment with only the first alignment member and, for sheets shifted to a second position at the other side, alignment with only the second alignment member, or does not perform alignment process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Keisuke Egawa, Kazuhisa Iwamoto
  • Patent number: 11485602
    Abstract: An embodiment of this disclosure provides a folding apparatus configured to stack and fold a designated number of sheets at a time. The folding apparatus includes a conveyor configured to sequentially convey the designated number of sheets, a stacker configured to temporarily store a sheet conveyed by the conveyor to stack the designated number of sheets, a sheet folding device configured to fold the designated number of sheets at a time, and control circuitry. The control circuitry is configured to cause the sheet folding device to fold the stored sheet in response to an occurrence of a sheet jam upstream from the stacker in a direction of sheet conveyance, in processing the designated number of sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Makoto Hidaka, Takahiro Watanabe, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Michitaka Suzuki, Fumiharu Yoneyama, Kazuyoshi Matsuo, Koki Sakano, Akira Kunieda, Takuya Morinaga, Yohsuke Haraguchi, Wataru Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11486096
    Abstract: A novel method for strengthening and reinforcing ancient books is provided. Such treatment method comprises: first placing the ancient books to be treated in a closed strengthening and reinforcing device; after sealing, performing dehumidification operation and vacuumizing operation on system in sequence to maintain the system dry; and after the system is stable under negative pressure, turning on a fan set, directly delivering a strengthening and reinforcing powder to the strengthening and reinforcing device via a gas pipe, or atomizing a strengthening and reinforcing solution through a ultrasonic atomizer and then delivering the atomized solution to the strengthening and reinforcing device via the gas pipe, so that the ancient books to be treated absorb the strengthening and reinforcing agent sufficiently and evenly; and meanwhile monitoring pH value and humidity of the ancient books, thereby implementing strengthening and reinforcement of the ancient books.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: SOUTH CHINA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Huiming Fan, Jianhua Chen, Haibin Wang, Qian Gan, Jiahe Li, Da Gao, Mingfeng Guo
  • Patent number: 11479435
    Abstract: A medium ejection apparatus including: a placement mount on which media are placed; a medium-leading-edge position restriction part that moves between a restriction position at which the restriction part restricts a position of a leading edge portion of a medium ejected toward the placement mount with reference to an ejection direction of the medium and a retracted position retracted from the restriction position; and a medium position control unit that controls the medium-leading-edge position restriction part such that the medium-leading-edge position restriction part performs a leading-edge restriction operation of moving from the retracted position to the restriction position and moving from the restriction position to the retracted position when the medium-leading-edge position restriction part and an upper surface of a medium are not in contact with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hisayuki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11472659
    Abstract: A recording material processing apparatus includes a processing tray, a detecting unit, a stapling unit, an instructing unit, a control unit, a switching unit, and a notifying unit. The detecting unit detects recording material placed in the processing tray. The stapling unit executes a stapling process for the recording material placed in the processing tray. The instructing unit outputs a stapling process execution instruction. Upon receipt of the execution instruction in a state in which the detecting unit has detected a recording material inserted in the processing tray from an outside of a main body of a main body apparatus, the control unit cause the stapling process to be executed. The switching unit switches a position of the stapling unit among a plurality of positions. The notifying unit provides notification of a placement position of the recording material in the processing tray corresponding to each of the plurality of positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroshi Chihara, Kazuhisa Sato
  • Patent number: 11465427
    Abstract: In an example, a media catcher may include a first frame member and a second frame member spaced away from the first frame member along a lateral direction, thereby defining a catcher width of the media catcher. Additionally, the media catcher may also include a device interface disposed at a top end of the first frame member or the second frame member. The device interface may attach the media catcher to an imaging device. The media catcher may further include a catch panel extending between the first frame member and the second frame member to catch and support media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Wesley Chia, Hock-Yong Cheng, Chin-Siang Chua, Alberto Arredondo Rosales, Rodrigo Ruiz, Alberto Borrego Lebrato
  • Patent number: 11459204
    Abstract: A sheet folding device includes a folding rollers pair, a folding blade, a movable guide, and a driving mechanism. The folding rollers pair includes a first roller and a second roller, and causes a sheet conveyed in a first conveyance direction to pass through a first nip area between the rollers. The folding blade is selectively disposed in a folding position and in a retracting position. The movable guide can reciprocate between a covering position covering the second roller disposed downstream of the first roller in the first conveyance direction and the first nip area and a non-covering position exposing the second roller and the first nip area. The drive mechanism disposes the folding blade in the folding position while disposing the movable guide in the non-covering position, and disposes the folding blade in the retracting position while disposing the movable guide in the covering position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Koji Murata, Tadahisa Kishimoto
  • Patent number: 11460096
    Abstract: An electric drive axle for a motor vehicle including an axle housing, an electric motor having an output shaft directly driven by a bevel pinion gear coupled thereto, a fixed ratio planetary gear arrangement, a differential unit including a differential gear arrangement housed within a differential case and a first clutch selectively operable to connect a portion of the planetary gear set to a stationary member of the drive axle so that the drive axle operates in a first gear ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Dana Heavy Vehicle Systems Group, LLC
    Inventor: James F. Ziech