US Patent Issued to RICOH on Feb. 4 for "Powder conveyance device and image forming apparatus including a conveyor and first and second conveyance tubes" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,216,418, issued on Feb. 4, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).

"Powder conveyance device and image forming apparatus including a conveyor and first and second conveyance tubes" was invented by Naohiro Kawashima (Kanagawa, Japan) and Kei Saito (Tokyo).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A powder conveyance device includes a conveyor that rotates in a rotation direction to convey powder and a first conveyance tube accommodating the conveyor. A second conveyance tube extends in an angled direction that is angled with respect to the first conveyance tube. The second conveyance tube communicates with the first conveyance tube. A swing member...