June 17, 2014.
The assignee for this patent, patent number 8755732, is Ricoh Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, JP).
Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a photocopier, facsimile, printer, plotter, or multifunctional machine having several of such imaging functions, and more particularly, to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having a transfer unit to transfer an image from a photoconductor or intermediate transfer member to a recording sheet of paper or plastic film, and a fuser unit to fix the transferred image in place on the recording sheet.
"In electrophotographic image formation, an electrostatic latent image is formed through charging and subsequent optical scanning of a rotating photoreceptive surface such as a drum or belt. Thereafter, a developing device renders the latent image into visible form with toner. The photoconductive surface after development is advanced to a transfer device in which the toner image is transferred to a recording material, such as a paper sheet or plastic film, either directly or via an intermediate transfer member by passing through a transfer nip. Then, the recording sheet is forwarded to a fixing device in which the powder toner image is fused in place, for example, with heat and pressure applied to the recording sheet passing through a fixing nip.
"In constructing such an electrophotographic imaging system, proper positioning of the transfer device and the fusing device is fundamental to good imaging and sheet feeding performance of the image forming apparatus. Misalignment of the transfer nip and the fixing nip results in displacement of images produced in the transfer and fixing processes, or curling and wrinkling of recording sheets traveling along the sheet feed path. read the rest of the article here