ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,686,972, issued on July 21, was assigned to Seiko Epson Corp. (Tokyo).
"Sheet manufacturing apparatus" was invented by Naoto Aruga (Matsumoto, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "There is provided a sheet manufacturing apparatus including: an accumulation section that forms a web by accumulating a material containing fibers by an air flow; a web transport section including a transport belt that comes into contact with one surface of the web and holds the web; a sheet forming section that forms a sheet by subjecting the web supplied from the web transport section to at least one of heating and pressurizing treatments; and an air ejection...