Patents by Inventor Soichi Saiga

Soichi Saiga has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11964470
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a printing device, a rotator, an upstream support stand. The printing device prints an image on a plate-shaped printing medium. The rotator rotates while nipping the plate-shaped printing medium and conveys the plate-shaped printing medium to the printing device. The upstream support stand supports the plate-shaped printing medium at a position upstream from the rotator in a conveyance direction of the plate-shaped printing medium and includes a mount. The mount is detachably attached to the rotator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY LTD.
    Inventors: Soichi Saiga, Atsushi Yanaka, Kiyoshi Tsukamura
  • Publication number: 20220314660
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a printing device, a rotator, an upstream support stand. The printing device prints an image on a plate-shaped printing medium. The rotator rotates while nipping the plate-shaped printing medium and conveys the plate-shaped printing medium to the printing device. The upstream support stand supports the plate-shaped printing medium at a position upstream from the rotator in a conveyance direction of the plate-shaped printing medium and includes a mount. The mount is detachably attached to the rotator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Soichi SAIGA, Atsushi YANAKA, Kiyoshi TSUKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20220314663
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a printing device, a nipping rotator, an upstream support stand, a plurality of rotators, a supporter, and an adjusting mechanism. The printing device prints an image on a plate-shaped printing medium. The nipping rotator conveys the plate-shaped printing medium. The upstream support stand supports the plate-shaped printing medium at a position upstream from the nipping rotator in a conveyance direction of the plate-shaped printing medium. The plurality of rotators are disposed side by side. The supporter supports the plurality of rotators. The adjusting mechanism adjusts relative positions of the plurality of rotators and the supporter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2022
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Soichi SAIGA, Atsushi YANAKA, Kiyoshi TSUKAMURA
  • Patent number: 11065895
    Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a liquid discharge head to discharge a liquid, a head holder to hold the liquid discharge head, a sub-carriage to hold the head holder, a carriage to hold the sub-carriage and move in a main scanning direction, an adjuster supported by the sub-carriage, and a guide to guide the sub-carriage to be movable in a vertical direction. The carriage includes a reference shaft extending in the main scanning direction, the reference shaft supports the sub-carriage via the adjuster and positions the sub-carriage in the vertical direction, the adjuster adjusts an inclination of the sub-carriage with respect to the reference shaft, the sub-carriage includes a sub-reference shaft extending in parallel with the reference shaft, and the guide allows the sub-reference shaft to move in the vertical direction while restricting a movement of the sub-reference shaft in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Soichi Saiga
  • Publication number: 20210001651
    Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a liquid discharge head to discharge a liquid, a head holder to hold the liquid discharge head, a sub-carriage to hold the head holder, a carriage to hold the sub-carriage and move in a main scanning direction, an adjuster supported by the sub-carriage, and a guide to guide the sub-carriage to be movable in a vertical direction. The carriage includes a reference shaft extending in the main scanning direction, the reference shaft supports the sub-carriage via the adjuster and positions the sub-carriage in the vertical direction, the adjuster adjusts an inclination of the sub-carriage with respect to the reference shaft, the sub-carriage includes a sub-reference shaft extending in parallel with the reference shaft, and the guide allows the sub-reference shaft to move in the vertical direction while restricting a movement of the sub-reference shaft in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventor: Soichi SAIGA
  • Patent number: 10464357
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head to discharge liquid, a head holder to hold the liquid discharge head, a sub-carriage to hold the head holder, and a carriage to hold the sub-carriage and which is movable in a main scanning direction. The carriage includes a reference extending along the main scanning direction that holds and positions the sub-carriage in the carriage. The head holder includes a rotation reference around which the head holder is rotatable with respect to the sub-carriage, and an angle adjuster to regulate a rotation and adjust an angle of the rotation of the head holder with respect to the sub-carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Soichi Saiga
  • Publication number: 20180311983
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head to discharge liquid, a head holder to hold the liquid discharge head, a sub-carriage to hold the head holder, and a carriage to hold the sub-carriage and which is movable in a main scanning direction. The carriage includes a reference extending along the main scanning direction that holds and positions the sub-carriage in the carriage. The head holder includes a rotation reference around which the head holder is rotatable with respect to the sub-carriage, and an angle adjuster to regulate a rotation and adjust an angle of the rotation of the head holder with respect to the sub-carriage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Soichi Saiga
  • Patent number: 9789709
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feeder, a carriage, a cutter, a cutter unit, and a controller. A first standby position and a second standby position are disposed on both ends of a range of movement of the carriage. The carriage does not contact the cutter unit at each of the first standby position and the second standby position. The controller is configured to control the carriage and the cutter unit to overlappingly move. In an image recording condition in which images are consecutively recorded in a plurality of pages on a sheet, the controller is configured to change a direction of movement of the carriage at a leading end of a page so that the direction of movement of the carriage is the same as a direction of movement of the cutter unit at a sheet cutting position at which the cutter cuts the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Soichi Saiga, Keisuke Sekine, Tomonori Naito, Shinichiro Naruse
  • Publication number: 20160297212
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feeder, a carriage, a cutter, a cutter unit, and a controller. A first standby position and a second standby position are disposed on both ends of a range of movement of the carriage. The carriage does not contact the cutter unit at each of the first standby position and the second standby position. The controller is configured to control the carriage and the cutter unit to overlappingly move. In an image recording condition in which images are consecutively recorded in a plurality of pages on a sheet, the controller is configured to change a direction of movement of the carriage at a leading end of a page so that the direction of movement of the carriage is the same as a direction of movement of the cutter unit at a sheet cutting position at which the cutter cuts the sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Publication date: October 13, 2016
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Soichi SAIGA, Keisuke SEKINE, Tomonori NAITO, Shinichiro NARUSE
  • Patent number: 9403390
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes at least one recording head, at least one head holder, a carriage, a reference member, a sub-reference member, and an adjuster. The at least one recording head includes a plurality of nozzles to discharge droplets. The at least one head holder holds the at least one recording head. The carriage holds the at least one head holder and movable in a main scanning direction. The reference member is provided at the carriage and arranged along the main scanning direction. The sub-reference member is provided at the carriage in separation from the reference member. The adjuster adjusts parallelism of the sub-reference member to the reference member. The at least one head holder is supported by and detachable from the reference member, positioned in contact with the sub-reference member, and held in the carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Soichi Saiga, Shinichiro Naruse, Kenji Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20160121634
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes at least one recording head, at least one head holder, a carriage, a reference member, a sub-reference member, and an adjuster. The at least one recording head includes a plurality of nozzles to discharge droplets. The at least one head holder holds the at least one recording head. The carriage holds the at least one head holder and movable in a main scanning direction. The reference member is provided at the carriage and arranged along the main scanning direction. The sub-reference member is provided at the carriage in separation from the reference member. The adjuster adjusts parallelism of the sub-reference member to the reference member. The at least one head holder is supported by and detachable from the reference member, positioned in contact with the sub-reference member, and held in the carriage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2015
    Publication date: May 5, 2016
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Soichi Saiga, Shinichiro Naruse, Kenji Shimizu
  • Patent number: 9028046
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of recording heads, a plurality of head holders to hold the recording heads, a guide member extending in a main scanning direction, a carriage movable in the main scanning direction along the guide member to hold the head holders, a reference member provided to the carriage and extending in the same direction as the guide member extends, an intermediate holder disposed between the carriage and the head holders and supported by the carriage with the reference member and at least two sub-reference portions, an adjustment member provided to at least one of the two sub-reference portions to displace the one of the two sub-reference portions relative to the carriage, and a contact portion provided to each of the head holders to contact against the intermediate holder in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the reference member extends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Soichi Saiga, Shinichiroh Naruse, Kenji Shimizu
  • Patent number: 9002257
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a sheet roll supporter disposed below a main body of the image forming apparatus to support a sheet roll such that a sheet is fed from the sheet roll, an image forming unit to form an image on the sheet fed from the sheet roll, a sheet discharger disposed downstream from the image forming unit in a direction of conveyance of the sheet to discharge the sheet having the image thereon in a sheet discharging direction, a guide unit to guide the sheet discharged from the sheet discharger to the front of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and a stacking unit on which the sheet passing the guide unit is stacked. Upper and front parts of the sheet roll are covered with the guide unit and the stacking unit across a width direction of the sheet perpendicular to the sheet discharging direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Soichi Saiga
  • Patent number: 8777374
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a main carriage to move and scan in a main scanning direction, a sub-carriage connectable to the main carriage to move and scan in the main scanning direction together with the main carriage, a positioning guide provided on one of the main carriage and the sub-carriage, and a position detector provided on the other one of the main carriage and the sub-carriage. The position detector reads the positioning guide as the main carriage and the sub-carriage connect to each other to detect relative positions of the main carriage and the sub-carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Naruse, Ichiro Komuro, Soichi Saiga
  • Patent number: 8770717
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a carriage, an image forming unit, a driving pulley, a driven pulley, a driving source, an open-ended carriage drawing member, and a mount. The drawing member is extended between the pulleys and having end portions mounted to the carriage. Each end portion has a surface including an indented area. The mount is disposed on the carriage and having first engagement portions and second engagement portions. Each first engagement portion has at least one indented area to engage the indented area of the drawing member. Each second engagement portion is connected to a corresponding first engagement portion in an orientation to be folded back relative to the corresponding first engagement portion. The end portions are mounted to the mount in a state in which the surface having the indented area is directed to a portion folded back along a corresponding second engagement portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Naruse, Takayuki Niihara, Soichi Saiga, Kenji Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20140063123
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of recording heads, a plurality of head holders to hold the recording heads, a guide member extending in a main scanning direction, a carriage movable in the main scanning direction along the guide member to hold the head holders, a reference member provided to the carriage and extending in the same direction as the guide member extends, an intermediate holder disposed between the carriage and the head holders and supported by the carriage with the reference member and at least two sub-reference portions, an adjustment member provided to at least one of the two sub-reference portions to displace the one of the two sub-reference portions relative to the carriage, and a contact portion provided to each of the head holders to contact against the intermediate holder in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the reference member extends.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2013
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Soichi Saiga, Shinichiroh Naruse, Kenji Shimizu
  • Patent number: 8591002
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a carriage movably supported to move reciprocally in a main scanning direction, an image forming unit mounted on the carriage to form an image, a driving pulley disposed at a first end in the main scanning direction, a driven pulley disposed at a second end opposite the first end in the main scanning direction, a driving source operatively connected to the driving pulley to rotate the driving pulley, a carriage drawing member extended between the driving pulley and the driven pulley and partially mounted to the carriage to draw the carriage, a mount disposed on the carriage to mount the carriage drawing member, a holder disposed on the carriage to hook the carriage drawing member extended from the mount during assembly, and a guide member to guide the carriage drawing member extended from the mount and the holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Shimizu, Takayuki Nihara, Shinichiro Naruse, Soichi Saiga
  • Patent number: 8573726
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a first carriage having a first recording head to eject black liquid droplets, a second carriage having a second recording head to eject color liquid droplets and separatably dockable with the first carriage, a position detector to detect a position of the second carriage relative to the first carriage in a state in which the first and second carriages are docked with each other, and a landing position corrector to correct landing positions of liquid droplets ejected from at least one of the first and second recording heads. The landing position corrector holds the position of the second carriage obtained by the position detector as a reference position and adjusts a correction amount for correcting the landing positions based on an amount of shift between the reference position and a present position of the second carriage docked with the first carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryusuke Mase, Ichiro Komuro, Mamoru Yorimoto, Shinichiro Naruse, Soichi Saiga
  • Patent number: 8556379
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a first carriage having a recording head that ejects black liquid droplets and is movable in a main scanning direction and a second carriage having a recording head that ejects color liquid droplets and is detachably attachable to the first carriage within a scanning range of the first carriage in the main scanning direction. The second carriage when attached to the first carriage is movable in the main scanning direction together with the first carriage. Attachment and detachment of the second carriage to and from the first carriage are performed based on a predetermined reference position of the first carriage in the main scanning direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Naruse, Ichiro Komuro, Mamoru Yorimoto, Soichi Saiga, Ryusuke Mase
  • Patent number: 8529012
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a first carriage having at least two first recording heads, a second carriage separatably dockable with the first carriage, a pattern forming unit to control the at least two first recording heads to form on a recording medium adjustment patterns for correcting a shift in landing positions of liquid droplets ejected from the at least two first recording heads, a pattern detector provided to the first carriage to read the adjustment patterns, and a landing position corrector to correct the shift in the landing positions of the liquid droplets based on a result obtained by the pattern detector. The at least two first recording heads form multiple rows of the adjustment patterns, and the pattern detector successively reads at least two rows of the multiple rows of the adjustment patterns without docking and separation of the first and second carriages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mamoru Yorimoto, Ichiro Komuro, Shinichiro Naruse, Soichi Saiga, Ryusuke Mase