ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,466,198, issued on Nov. 11, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).
"Liquid discharge apparatus" was invented by Satoshi Ueno (Tokyo) and Muneyuki Okeguchi (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A liquid discharge apparatus includes a holder, a pre-treatment head, a smoother, and a print head. The holder reciprocally moves while holding a recording medium. The pre-treatment head discharges a pre-treatment liquid onto a surface of the recording medium held by the holder. The smoother smooths the pre-treatment liquid, which is discharged onto the surface of the recording medium, along the surface of the recording medium by a m...