ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,560,879, issued on Feb. 24, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).
"Image forming apparatus" was invented by Ryohei Matsuda (Kanagawa, Japan), Yoshiki Yamaguchi (Kanagawa, Japan), Takashi Seto (Kanagawa, Japan), Hiroshi Yoshinaga (Chiba, Japan) and Ryohhei Sugiyama (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An image forming apparatus includes a heating device, a motor, and circuitry. The heating device includes a belt, a heater, belt holders, a slide aid, lubricant, and a temperature sensor. The heater heats the belt. The belt holders hold both ends of the belt in a longitudinal direction of the belt. The inner circumferential ...