Patents by Inventor Tomoyoshi Yamazaki
Tomoyoshi Yamazaki 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).
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Patent number: 8320798Abstract: A conveying device conveys a sheet of non-blank recording medium recorded with an image formed in an image forming unit, and includes a container that is detachable and contains a sheet of blank recording medium, a feeding unit that feeds the blank recording medium from the container, and a recirculating path that leads the non-blank recording medium to the feeding unit. The recirculating path is disposed lateral to the image forming unit. A part of the recirculating path is integrated into the container and forms a reversing path that leads to the feeding unit. At least one of surfaces of the reversing path can be exposed.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 2011Date of Patent: November 27, 2012Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Shigeo Nanno, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Yoshihide Ohta, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Masafumi Takahira
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Patent number: 8260187Abstract: An image forming device is disclosed. The device includes a toner-image forming unit which forms a toner image; a transfer unit; a fixing unit; a paper-output unit; a drive unit; a first drive-power transmission gear; a second drive-power transmission gear; a gear housing; a first positioning unit which positions the fixing unit relative to a device body; and a second positioning unit. The second positioning unit positions the paper-output unit relative to the device body in the direction of a gap between the first drive-power transmission gear and the second drive-power transmission gear by engaging the gear housing with the device body.Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 2008Date of Patent: September 4, 2012Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Haruyuki Honda, Yasuo Matsuyama, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Kazuyoshi Kondo, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Masafumi Takahira
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Patent number: 8256769Abstract: A sheet discharge roller has a contact portion in contact with a feed roller and a noncontact portion not in contact with the feed roller. The sheet discharge roller includes a kick-out unit having a projected portion and a recess portion on one end of the noncontact portion in the circumferential direction. A reverse roller also has a contact portion in contact with the feed roller and a noncontact portion not in contact with the feed roller. The reverse roller includes a large-diameter portion on its one end in a direction opposite to a direction of the kick-out unit. The large-diameter portion has a diameter larger than a diameter of the contact portion.Type: GrantFiled: April 25, 2011Date of Patent: September 4, 2012Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Masafumi Takahira, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Shigeo Nanno, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Mizuna Tanaka, Toshikane Nishii, Haruyuki Honda, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki
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Patent number: 8240657Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a sheet feeding member, a friction separation member, a retaining member, a downstream guiding member, and a biasing member. The downstream guiding member is arranged downstream of a sheet conveyance direction than the friction separation member such that its guide surface is inclined at a predetermined angle to a front surface of the friction separation member towards the sheet feeding member. A line joining an apex of a sheet guiding member arranged upstream of the sheet conveyance direction than the friction separation member and an apex of the downstream guiding unit is positioned towards the sheet feeding member than a contact portion of the sheet feeding member and the friction separation member.Type: GrantFiled: October 23, 2008Date of Patent: August 14, 2012Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Mizuna Tanaka, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuo Matsuyama, Kazuyoshi Kondo, Toshikane Nishii, Ippei Kimura, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Haruyuki Honda, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Masafumi Takahira, Ikuo Fujii
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Publication number: 20120146281Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a feeding device and a detector. The feeding device is configured to feed a sheet to a destination. The detector is configured to detect the sheet at the destination. If the detector does not detect the sheet within a predetermined time after the start of preparation for a feeding operation by the feeding device, it is determined that the sheet is misfed. Further, the start of the feeding operation of a sheet is changed in accordance with the result of detection by the detector of the presence or absence of a sheet standing by at the destination.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 7, 2011Publication date: June 14, 2012Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Toshikane Nishii, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Haruyuki Honda, Mizuna Tanaka
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Publication number: 20120063829Abstract: A sheet supplying device that is incorporatable in an image forming apparatus includes a recording media container, a sheet feeding unit to feed a recording medium from the recording media container, and a frame to support the recording media container and the sheet feeding unit. The recording media container is detachably attachable to the frame in a first operation in which the recording media container is moved in a sheet conveyance direction in which the recording medium is conveyed upstream or downstream by the sheet feeding unit, and the recording media container is separated from the frame and the sheet feeding unit with the sheet feeding unit remaining in the frame, and a second operation in which the recording media container is moved in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction, and the recording media container is separated from the frame together with the sheet feeding unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 7, 2011Publication date: March 15, 2012Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Yasuo Matsuyama, Ippei Kimura, Ikuo Fujii, Takamitsu Ikematsu, Masafumi Takahira, Kaoru Tada, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Toru Hanashima, Chikara Hiraoka, Tamotsu Ikeda, Kazuyoshi Kondo
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Publication number: 20120007307Abstract: A conveying device conveys a sheet of non-blank recording medium recorded with an image formed in an image forming unit, and includes a container that is detachable and contains a sheet of blank recording medium, a feeding unit that feeds the blank recording medium from the container, and a recirculating path that leads the non-blank recording medium to the feeding unit. The recirculating path is disposed lateral to the image forming unit. A part of the recirculating path is integrated into the container and forms a reversing path that leads to the feeding unit. At least one of surfaces of the reversing path can be exposed.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 15, 2011Publication date: January 12, 2012Inventors: Shigeo NANNO, Hiroshi FUJIWARA, Yasuhide OHKUBO, Ippei KIMURA, Yoshihide OHTA, Tomoyoshi YAMAZAKI, Masafumi TAKAHIRA
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Patent number: 8087666Abstract: A sheet discharge device discharges a sheet to a sheet discharge tray. The sheet discharge device includes a rotary shaft, two inside drive rollers, two outside drive rollers, two inside driven rollers, two outside driven rollers, two end retainers, and two inside retainers. The drive rollers are rotatably attached to the rotary shaft. Each of the driven rollers opposes a corresponding one of the drive rollers to be driven by the drive roller. The end retainers and the inside retainers rotatably extend from the rotary shaft across a common tangent of the driven rollers and the drive rollers. The end retainers are longer than the inside rollers and constructed so as to rest on the stacked sheets.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2009Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Haruyuki Honda, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Kazuyoshi Kondo, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki
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Patent number: 8070159Abstract: In a color printer in which a drive force of a fixed gear that rotates not in both a forward direction and a reverse direction but in either one direction only is transmitted to a discharging unit, a swing gear is attached to a branch guide via a switching link and a transmission link as a link mechanism. When a solenoid mechanism starts driving, the transmission link rotates. In accordance with the rotation of the transmission link, the switching link rotates, so that a switching among a discharge conveying path, a duplex-printing conveying path, and a switchback conveying path by the branch guide and a switching of a rotating direction of a transmission gear can be simultaneously performed.Type: GrantFiled: February 7, 2011Date of Patent: December 6, 2011Assignee: Ricoh Company, LimitedInventors: Haruyuki Honda, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Toshikane Nishii, Shigeo Nanno, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Masafumi Takahira
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Publication number: 20110291353Abstract: An image forming apparatus for which a control method is performed includes a recording unit, a conveying device conveying a recording medium to the recording unit, a feeding device supplying the recording medium to the conveying device, a recording medium conveying pathway along which the recording medium travels, and a control device controlling the conveying device and the feeding device. A first partial length of the recording medium conveying pathway extending from the feeding device to the recording unit is shorter than a conveyance direction length of a maximum usable size recording medium. When the leading end of the recording medium is located between the conveying device and the recording unit after the conveying device is driven to convey the recording medium, the control device switches the feeding device from a driven state to a non-driven state to move the feeding device by the recording medium.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 24, 2011Publication date: December 1, 2011Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Haruyuki Honda, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka
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Publication number: 20110285076Abstract: A sheet inverting device includes a loop pathway including an entrance slot to which a recording medium is conveyed and an exit slot from which the recording medium is conveyed, the loop pathway forming a loop shape to convey the recording medium therethrough in a forward direction defined by a sheet conveyance direction in which the recording medium is conveyed from the entrance slot travels, and a redirectable sheet conveyance member to convey the recording medium traveling through the loop pathway in the forward direction and a reverse direction that is the reverse of the forward direction. The exit slot is configured to convey the recording medium that is conveyed by the redirectable sheet conveyance member in the reverse direction outside the sheet inverting device therethrough.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 18, 2011Publication date: November 24, 2011Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Haruyuki Honda, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka
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Patent number: 8045888Abstract: A conveying device conveys a sheet of non-blank recording medium recorded with an image formed in an image forming unit, and includes a container that is detachable and contains a sheet of blank recording medium, a feeding unit that feeds the blank recording medium from the container, and a recirculating path that leads the non-blank recording medium to the feeding unit. The recirculating path is disposed lateral to the image forming unit. A part of the recirculating path is integrated into the container and forms a reversing path that leads to the feeding unit. At least one of surfaces of the reversing path can be exposed.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2006Date of Patent: October 25, 2011Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Shigeo Nanno, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Yoshihide Ohta, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Masafumi Takahira
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Publication number: 20110217058Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit forming an image on a sheet transported along a transport path in a printing operation; a sheet stacking unit in which the sheet ejected at the end of the transport path is stacked; a sheet detecting unit detecting the presence or absence of the sheet in the transport path; a counting unit counting number-of-sheet data of the sheet detected by the sheet detecting unit; and a control unit controlling the printing operation in accordance with a first print request from a print instructing unit for a print job and based on a count value obtained by the counting unit. The control unit clears the count value in the absence of a next print request from the print instructing unit within a predetermined time after completion of the printing operation.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 4, 2011Publication date: September 8, 2011Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Haruyuki Honda, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka
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Publication number: 20110204556Abstract: A sheet discharge roller has a contact portion in contact with a feed roller and a noncontact portion not in contact with the feed roller. The sheet discharge roller includes a kick-out unit having a projected portion and a recess portion on one end of the noncontact portion in the circumferential direction. A reverse roller also has a contact portion in contact with the feed roller and a noncontact portion not in contact with the feed roller. The reverse roller includes a large-diameter portion on its one end in a direction opposite to a direction of the kick-out unit. The large-diameter portion has a diameter larger than a diameter of the contact portion.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 25, 2011Publication date: August 25, 2011Inventors: Masafumi Takahira, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Shigeo Nanno, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Mizuna Tanaka, Toshikane Nishii, Haruyuki Honda, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki
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Patent number: 7992860Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a first roller that draws a recording medium at a first position and feeds the recording medium; a friction pad that comes into contact with the first roller with a predetermined contact pressure at a second position that is close to and downstream of the first position in a conveying direction of the recording medium and nips the recording medium with the first roller to convey the recording medium in the conveying direction; and a second roller that comes into contact with the first roller at a third position that is close to and downstream of the second position in the conveying direction and nips the recording medium with the first roller.Type: GrantFiled: May 14, 2009Date of Patent: August 9, 2011Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Ippei Kimura, Yasuo Matsuyama, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Haruyuki Honda, Masafumi Takahira
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Patent number: 7963520Abstract: A sheet cassette loads and houses therein a plurality of sheets. A separating unit separates the sheets loaded in the sheet cassette one by one. The separating unit is arranged in the sheet cassette in opposite to a feeding roller that conveys the sheets from the sheet cassette. A rib is formed on a rear surface of a bottom plate of the sheet cassette. The rib is pressed by a pressing member.Type: GrantFiled: January 24, 2008Date of Patent: June 21, 2011Assignee: Ricoh Company, LimitedInventors: Mizuna Tanaka, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Shigeo Nanno, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Haruyuki Honda, Ippei Kimura, Masafumi Takahira, Toshikane Nishii
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Patent number: 7954814Abstract: A sheet discharge roller has a contact portion in contact with a feed roller and a noncontact portion not in contact with the feed roller. The sheet discharge roller includes a kick-out unit having a projected portion and a recess portion on one end of the noncontact portion in the circumferential direction. A reverse roller also has a contact portion in contact with the feed roller and a noncontact portion not in contact with the feed roller. The reverse roller includes a large-diameter portion on its one end in a direction opposite to a direction of the kick-out unit. The large-diameter portion has a diameter larger than a diameter of the contact portion.Type: GrantFiled: March 12, 2008Date of Patent: June 7, 2011Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Masafumi Takahira, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Shigeo Nanno, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Mizuna Tanaka, Toshikane Nishii, Haruyuki Honda, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki
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Publication number: 20110127707Abstract: In a color printer in which a drive force of a fixed gear that rotates not in both a forward direction and a reverse direction but in either one direction only is transmitted to a discharging unit, a swing gear is attached to a branch guide via a switching link and a transmission link as a link mechanism. When a solenoid mechanism starts driving, the transmission link rotates. In accordance with the rotation of the transmission link, the switching link rotates, so that a switching among a discharge conveying path, a duplex-printing conveying path, and a switchback conveying path by the branch guide and a switching of a rotating direction of a transmission gear can be simultaneously performed.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 7, 2011Publication date: June 2, 2011Inventors: Haruyuki Honda, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Toshikane Nishii, Shigeo Nanno, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Masafumi Takahira
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Publication number: 20110115154Abstract: In a recording medium conveyer, a driver drives a feeding member and a conveying member provided downstream from the feeding member in a recording medium conveyance direction independently. A controller stops driving the feeding member when a first time period elapses after a recording medium reaches the conveying member. When a selector judges that the thickness of the recording medium identifies the recording medium as thin paper, the controller does not drive the feeding member after the controller starts driving the conveying member, and when the selector judges that the recording medium has a thickness greater than a thickness of the recording medium that identifies the recording medium as thin paper, the controller restarts driving the feeding member no later than when the controller starts driving the conveying member.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 21, 2011Publication date: May 19, 2011Inventors: Hiroshi Fujiwara, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Toshikane Nishii, Kazuyoshi Kondo, Haruyuki Honda
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Patent number: 7918451Abstract: In a color printer in which a drive force of a fixed gear that rotates not in both a forward direction and a reverse direction but in either one direction only is transmitted to a discharging unit, a swing gear is attached to a branch guide via a switching link and a transmission link as a link mechanism. When a solenoid mechanism starts driving, the transmission link rotates. In accordance with the rotation of the transmission link, the switching link rotates, so that a switching among a discharge conveying path, a duplex-printing conveying path, and a switchback conveying path by the branch guide and a switching of a rotating direction of a transmission gear can be simultaneously performed.Type: GrantFiled: April 30, 2008Date of Patent: April 5, 2011Assignee: Ricoh Company, LimitedInventors: Haruyuki Honda, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Yasuhide Ohkubo, Ippei Kimura, Toshikane Nishii, Shigeo Nanno, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Masafumi Takahira