Image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorYoshiki Hozumi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer, a transferor, a nip former, a holder, a slider, a pressure spring, and a separator. The transferor transfers a toner image on the image bearer. The nip former causes the transferor to contact the image bearer at a nip forming position to form a transfer nip between the image bearer and the transferor. The holder holds the nip former. The slider is slidable in a first direction. The pressure spring has one end engaged with the slider and another end to press the holder in the first direction to position the nip former at the nip forming position. The separator slides the slider in a second direction opposite the first direction to move the nip former from the nip forming position to a retracted position to separate the transferor from the image bearer.
Claims10
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an image bearer;
- a transferor to transfer a toner image on the image bearer;
- a nip former to cause the transferor to contact the image bearer at a nip forming position to form a transfer nip between the image bearer and the transferor;
- a holder to hold the nip former;
- a slider slidable in a first direction;
- a pressure spring having:
- one end engaged with the slider;
- and
- another end to press the holder in the first direction to position the nip former at the nip forming position;
- and
- a separator to slide the slider in a second direction opposite the first direction to move the nip former from the nip forming position to a retracted position to separate the transferor from the image bearer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.