US Patent Issued to Ricoh on Jan. 20 for "Belt device including a belt guide on an inner circumferential surface of a belt , fixing device, and image forming apparatus" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,529,985, issued on Jan. 20, was assigned to Ricoh Co. Ltd. (Tokyo).

"Belt device including a belt guide on an inner circumferential surface of a belt , fixing device, and image forming apparatus" was invented by Hiroya Abe (Kanagawa, Japan) and Atsuo Hirai (Kanagawa, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A belt device includes a rotatable belt, a pressure rotator opposite to the belt, a nip formation pad, a belt guide, a member, and lubricant. The nip formation pad is disposed inside a loop of the belt to form a nip between the belt and the pressure rotator. The belt guide is disposed on an inner circumferential surface of the belt. The m...