ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,360,483, issued on July 15, was assigned to Toshiba Tec K.K. (Tokyo).
"Heater, fixing device, and image forming apparatus" was invented by Kazuhiko Kikuchi (Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan), Osamu Takagi (Tokyo) and Chie Miyauchi (Odawara Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A heater is to face a pressure element via a belt and is to heat the belt. The pressure element sandwiches and conveys a sheet together with the belt. The heater includes a substrate, a heat generating element, a couple of electrodes, and a protective layer. There are the electrodes on both sides of the heat generating element in a conveyance direction of the shee...