ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 7 -- United States Patent no. 12,673,340, issued on July 7, was assigned to Ricoh Co. Ltd. (Tokyo).
"Wiping device and liquid discharge apparatus" was invented by Takeyuki Kobayashi (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wiping device includes a web, multiple pressing mechanisms, and circuitry. The web is windable in a winding direction and a rewinding direction, to wipe nozzle faces of multiple liquid discharge heads arranged in a width direction. The multiple pressing mechanisms are arranged in the width direction corresponding to the multiple liquid discharge heads. Each of the multiple pressing mechanisms is movable between a wiping position and a retracte...