ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,386,286, issued on Aug. 12, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).
"Pressing device and image forming apparatus" was invented by Hiroaki Takagi (Kanagawa, Japan) and Takahiro Konishi (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A pressing device includes an intermediate transfer unit, a secondary transfer unit, a presser, and a drive transmitter. The intermediate transfer unit transfers and conveys a toner image. The secondary transfer unit faces the intermediate transfer unit to form a nip portion between the secondary transfer unit and the intermediate transfer unit and transfers the toner image onto a conveyed material at the nip portio...