ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,372,903, issued on July 29, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).
"Fixing device and image forming apparatus" was invented by Yutaka Ikebuchi (Kanagawa, Japan), Shigeo Nanno (Kyoto, Japan), Hitoshi Fujiwara (Tokyo) and Yuusuke Furuichi (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A fixing device includes a belt and a holder that holds a heater. A conductive member contacts an inner face of the belt and pivots. The conductive member includes one end portion in a rotation direction of the belt and an opposed portion that abuts on the one end portion. A support supports the holder and presses the conductive member against the holde...