ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,304,217, issued on May 20, was assigned to KONICA MINOLTA INC. (Tokyo).
"Image forming apparatus" was invented by Satoru Osawa (Hachioji, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An image forming apparatus includes: a main tank that stores ink; a first storage tank that stores the ink supplied from the main tank; an ink head that ejects the ink; a first supply channel for supplying the ink from the main tank to the first storage tank; a second supply channel for supplying the ink from the first storage tank to the ink head; a heating section that is provided in the first supply channel and heats the ink; and a circulation channel for returni...