US Patent Issued to RICOH on June 10 for "Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating the same" (Japanese Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,326,680, issued on June 10, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).

"Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating the same" was invented by Akiyasu Amita (Kanagawa, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A fixing device includes a belt forming a loop, a roller supporting an inner face of the belt, a pad, a slider, and a pressure rotator. The pad is inside the loop of the belt to press the inner face of the belt outward the belt. The slider is disposed between the belt and the pad to reduce friction between the belt and the pad. The pressure rotator presses the pad via the belt and the slider to form a fixing nip in which the...