US Patent Issued to RICOH on Feb. 17 for "Pressure switching device, image forming apparatus, and pressure switching method" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,554,217, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).

"Pressure switching device, image forming apparatus, and pressure switching method" was invented by Natsuki Watanabe (Kanagawa, Japan), Hitoshi Fujiwara (Kanagawa, Japan), Yuusuke Furuichi (Kanagawa, Japan) and Yutaka Ikebuchi (Kanagawa, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A pressure switching device includes a switch that switches between a pressing state in which a first opposed member presses against a second opposed member with predetermined pressure and a pressure decrease state in which the first opposed member is disposed opposite the second opposed member wi...