US Patent Issued to Ricoh on Nov. 4 for "Open and close device, sheet conveyor, and image forming apparatus" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,459,767, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to Ricoh Co. Ltd. (Tokyo).

"Open and close device, sheet conveyor, and image forming apparatus" was invented by Hiroki Ishihara (Kanagawa, Japan), Kenji Nozawa (Kanagawa, Japan) and Takehiro Nakamura (Ibaraki, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An open and close device, a sheet conveyor, and an image forming apparatus. The open and close device includes an open and close portion to open or shut, a biasing mechanism to bias the open and close portion in an opening direction, and a holder to hold the open and close portion shut. The biasing mechanism includes a first spring whose biasing force is in...