This invention relates to a screw tap which is rotatable about a rotational axis and has a number of thread-cutting teeth, which respectively have a radially outer tip cutter and are disposed mutually offset, with a predefined thread pitch, in an arrangement running spirally or helically around the rotational axis. In a lead region adjoining one end of the screw tap axially to the rotational axis, the maximum radial distance of the tip cutters of the thread-cutting teeth from the rotational axis increases with increasing axial distance of the tip cutters from one end of the screw tap according to a predefined radial distance function. At least some of the thread-cutting teeth in the lead region, at least in the region of the tip cutters, respectively have a defined cutter rounding between tool face and tool flank.

Provided is a technique to secure compositional or microstructural uniformity of a ceramic sintered body while increasing the area of the ceramic sintered boy, thus improving basic performance including non-linearity, maximum withstand energy and aging characteristics. A plurality of small varistor pieces 11 and insulating resin are kneaded and extruded for shaping, whereby a sheet-form varistor layer 13 can be formed where a plurality of small varistor pieces 11 are spaced from one another and are aligned on the same plane, and the adjacent small varistor pieces 11 are bonded via insulating resin.

A chip thermistor has a thermistor portion including a ceramic material containing respective metal oxides of Mn, Ni, and Co as major ingredients; a pair of composite portions including a composite material of Ag—Pd, and respective metal oxides of Mn, Ni, and Co and arranged on both sides of the thermistor portion so as to sandwich in the thermistor portion between the composite portions; and external electrodes connected to the pair of composite portions, respectively. In this manner, the pair of composite portions are used as bulk electrodes and, for this reason, the resistance of the chip thermistor can be adjusted mainly with consideration to the resistance in the thermistor portion without need for much consideration to the distance between the external electrodes and other factors.

Provided is a non-linear resistive element which enables to narrow an interval between a plurality of electrodes. A ceramic sheet (2) which constitutes the non-linear resistive element is configured by being supported in a sheet like form by a support member (22) composed of an insulating material. A plurality of ceramic pieces (21) are sectioned and arranged in each of a plurality of unit areas (23) which are apart from each other.

A temperature detector for a contact thermometer of process measurement technology having a thermowell, at least one thermal sensor element arranged in a process-side end of the thermowell, and at least one electrical connecting means connected to the thermal sensor element with a first connection side and extending in the thermowell at least up to an evaluation-side end of the thermowell, so that the thermal sensor element can be electrically contacted via a second connection side of the electrical connecting means, and in which the electrical connecting means is formed by a connection printed circuit board with conducting paths.

Illustrative embodiments of force sensitive input devices and methods are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, an input device may comprise a first input key configured to output a first analog signal as a function of force applied to the first input key, a second input key configured to output a second analog signal as a function of force applied to the second input key, a third input key configured to output a third analog signal as a function of force applied to the third input key, a fourth input key configured to output a fourth analog signal as a function of force applied to the fourth input key, and a controller configured to output movement data including both direction and magnitude in response to the first, second, third, and fourth analog signals, where the movement data is formatted for presentation to a driver of a computing device.

A wiring substrate includes a substrate main body having a first main face and a second main face opposite the first main face; a resistor formed on the first main face; a plurality of first-main-face-side wiring layers which are each formed on the resistor and which each include a grounding metal layer formed of a metal having a resistance lower than that of the resistor and a conductor layer formed on the grounding metal layer; a second-main-face-side wiring layer formed on the second main face; and a via which is formed in the substrate main body and which establishes electrical connectivity between the first-main-face-side wiring layers and the second-main-face-side wiring layer. The wiring substrate further includes a conductive covering layer which covers an upper surface and substantially covers the side surfaces of each of the first-main-face-side wiring layers.

A thermal, flow measuring device for determining and/or monitoring the flow of a measured medium through a measuring tube. The thermal, flow measuring device includes: a first pin-shaped shell and at least a second pin-shaped shell; a first resistance thermometer and at least a second resistance thermometer. At least the first resistance thermometer is embodied so as to be heatable, wherein the resistance thermometers, in each case, have a first surface, and at least a second surface, which lies opposite the first surface. The first pin-shaped shell surrounds the first resistance thermometer, and the second pin-shaped shell surrounds the second resistance thermometer. The pin-shaped shells are fillable with a fill material. In each case, at least one spacer is placeable between the pin-shaped shell and the first surface of the resistance thermometer, and the second surface of the resistance thermometer is at least partially covered with fill material.

An electromagnetic field measuring apparatus capable of measuring an electromagnetic field for a minuscule area in which electronic devices are densely packed with a high sensitivity is provided. In an electromagnetic field measuring apparatus according to the present invention, the amplitude level of signal light (pf) is adjusted by the analyzer (34) by adjusting its angle with respect to the plane of polarization of the signal light (pf) based on an amplitude level control signal (eb) supplied from the calculation control unit (40). An amplitude level control signal (eb) is supplied from the calculation control unit (40) to the analyzer (34) based on the spectrum (ea) of an electric signal (ed) measured by an RF spectrum analyzer (39). The amplitude level ration between the carrier and the sideband contained in the signal light (ph) incident on the optical receiver (38) is controlled to a fixed value.

An over-current protection device has a PTC device, first and second electrodes and an insulation layer. The PTC device comprises first and second electrically conductive members and a PTC layer laminated between the first and second electrically conductive members. The first and second electrodes are electrically connected to the first and second electrically conductive members, respectively. The insulation layer is disposed on a surface of the first electrically conductive member. The device is a stack structure extending along a first direction, and comprises at least one hole extending along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The value of the covered area of the hole divided by the area of the form factor of the over-current protection device is not less than 2%, and the value of the thickness of the device divided by the number of the PTC devices is less than 0.7 mm.

A resistance component includes a stack of ceramic layers and inner electrodes. Inner electrodes of a first type are electrically conductively connected to a first external contact and inner electrodes of a second type are electrically conductively connected to a second external contact. The inner electrodes of the first type are arranged such that there is no overlap with the inner electrodes of the second type. An inner electrode of a third type, which is electrically conductively connected neither to the first external contact nor to the second external contact, at least partially overlaps the inner electrodes of the first type and the inner electrodes of the second type.

In a manufacturing method for a monolithic ceramic electronic component, a plurality of green chips arrayed in row and column directions which are obtained after cutting a mother block are spaced apart from each other and then tumbled, thereby uniformly making the side surface of each of the green chips an open surface. Thereafter, an adhesive is applied to the side surface. Then, by placing a side surface ceramic green sheet on an affixation elastic body, and pressing the side surface of the green chips against the side surface ceramic green sheet, the side surface ceramic green sheet is punched and stuck to the side surface.

A chip resistor includes an insulating substrate, top terminal electrodes formed on top surface of the substrate using silver-based cermet, bottom electrodes, resistive element that is situated between the top terminal electrodes and overlaps them partially, an optional internal protective coating that covers resistive element completely or partially, an external protective coating that covers completely the internal protection coating and partially covers top terminal electrodes, a plated layer of nickel that covers face sides of the substrate, top and bottom electrodes, and overlaps partially external protective coating, finishing plated layer that covers nickel layer. The overlap of nickel layer and external protective layer possesses a sealing property because of metallization of the edges of external protective layer prior to the nickel plating process.

The invention relates to a main housing element for a multi-part housing of an electrical device. The main housing element consists of a frame element and at least one connector element integrated in the frame element and produced in one piece with the frame element. The connecting region between the at least one connector element and the frame element is configured as a predetermined breaking point. In the course of assembly of the main housing element a mechanical separation of the connector element from the frame element takes place, whereby the connector element and the frame element are uncoupled.

A method of manufacturing a chip resistor includes forming a resistor assembly in which a conductive member including portions separated from each other in a first direction is provided in a resistance body member; and dividing the resistor assembly into chip resistors, each including a chip-shaped resistance body formed by a part of the resistance body member, a pair of main electrodes formed by a part of the conductive member and separated from each other in the first direction, and a pair of sub-electrodes formed by a part of the conductive member, separated from each other in the first direction, and adjacent to the main electrodes in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction with concave portions recessed in the first direction interposed therebetween, by punching.

The object of the invention is to provide a method and an apparatus that allow production of metal plate chip resistors having a relatively low resistance with high accuracy and yield through simple process. The object is achieved by apparatus for manufacturing metal plate chip resistors including cutting mold for cutting intermediate product strip transversely to obtain worked product chip, ohm meter for measuring the resistance of the worked product chip, control device having a calculating part for performing a calculation using the resistance measured by the ohm meter to work out a width in which the strip is to be cut transversely so as to obtain a worked product chip of a desired resistance, and cutting width adjustor for making an adjustment so that the strip is to be cut transversely in the width obtained from the calculating part.

A spectrometer system for providing information about a target with terahertz radiation. The system may receive incident radiation from the target through fore optics, a slit aperture, secondary optics and a dispersive element which images a slit on an array of terahertz sensitive detectors. The detectors may include uncooled sensors. Each sensor may be connected to its own micro antenna. The array of detectors may be situated proximate to the dispersive element so that radiation from the element may be dispersed according to wavelength to the respective detectors optimally sensitive to the various respective wavelengths. Detector signals indicating the impingement of terahertz radiation may provide information for identifying a material of the target.

An apparatus and method for improved current shunt sensing in an electrical system, such as a renewable energy electrical system, is disclosed. A current shunt according to aspects of the present disclosure includes a conductive portion that is placed in series with an electrical system The current shunt includes a sensing element that is used to measure the voltage across the conductive portion of the current shunt. The sensing element has an increased width relative to the width of the conductive portion of the shunt. The increased width of the sensing element provides for improved current shunt sensing that results in more accurate voltage (and thus current) measurements across a wide range of frequencies.

Provided is a resistive element which has excellent inrush current resistance, and can suppress heat generation in a steady state. The resistive element has an element main body of a semiconductor ceramic in which the main constituent has a structure of R11-xR2xBaMn2O6 in which 0.05≦x≦1.0 when R1 is Nd and R2 is at least one of Sm, Eu and Gd; 0.05≦x≦0.8 when R1 is Nd and R2 is at least one of Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Y; 0≦x≦0.4 when R1 is at least one of Sm, Eu, and Gd and R2 is at least one of Tb, Dy, Ho, and Y; and 0≦x≦1.0 when R1 is at least one of Sm, Eu, and Gd and R2 is at least one of Sm, Eu, and Gd, but the Sm, Eu, and/or Gd in R1 is different from that in R2.

There is provided an array type chip resistor including: a chip body, four pairs of lower electrodes disposed on both sides of a lower surface of the chip body and formed so as to be extended to edges of the chip body, side electrodes formed so that the lower electrodes are extended to sides of the chip body, and a resistor interposed between the lower electrodes on the lower surface of the chip body and electrically connected to the lower electrode through a contact portion, wherein when a width of the side electrode is defined as d1, a distance between adjacent side electrodes is defined as d2, and a height of the side electrode is defined as h, in the case in which d1/d2 is 0.5 to 1.5, a value of h is 4,300/d1 μm or above and is 0.24d2+87.26 μm or less.

There are provided a chip resistor and a method of manufacturing the same. The chip resistor includes a ceramic substrate; an adhesion portion formed on a surface of the ceramic substrate; and a resistor formed on the adhesion portion, wherein the adhesion portion includes at least one of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and copper-nickel (Cu—Ni).

Provided is a non-linear resistive element which improves the degree of freedom of design of its mounting space. A ceramic sheet 10 which constitutes the non-linear resistive element is configured by a plurality of ceramic pieces 11 being consolidated in a plate like form by an insulating resin 12. One or a plurality of ceramic pieces 11 configure each of a plurality of conductive paths which penetrate the ceramic sheet 10 in a thickness direction thereof, and the ceramic pieces 11 which configure both ends of the conductive paths partially projects from the insulating resin 12.

A touch panel includes a touch sensor layer including a first transparent electrode and a second transparent electrode, wherein an arrangement direction of the first transparent electrode can be perpendicular to that of the second transparent electrode, and both of the first and second transparent electrodes include two transparent metallic patterns which are stacked and electrically connected to each other.

A resistive device includes a resistive layer, a flexible substrate arranged on the resistive layer, and an electrode layer. The electrode layer includes two electrode sections arranged below the resistive layer and separate to each other. Moreover, a method for manufacturing the resistive device with flexible substrate is also disclosed.

An elastomeric particle (1, 1, 1″) comprises a non-conducting elastomeric body (2) having an electrically conducting surface (4a, 4b, 6). Pressure sensor elements (20, 20', 20″; 30, 30', 30″, 30'″) comprising such elastomeric particles are disclosed, as well as sensor clusters (50″, 50'″, 50IV, 50V, 50VI, 50VII, 70) comprising such sensor elements. There is also disclosed a pressure sensor element (40, 40', 40″, 40'″, 40IV, 40V, 40VI, 40VII), comprising a resistive element (44, 44', 44″) providing a conduction path, a first electrode (42a, 42a-1, 42a-2, 42a-3, 42a-4, 42a-5, 42a-6), connected to the resistive element, a second electrode (42b, 42b'), which in a quiescent state is spaced from said first electrode, wherein the second electrode, when the pressure sensor element is subjected to a pressure, is arranged to contact said first electrode or said resistive element. Systems comprising such sensor elements and sensor clusters are disclosed, as well as methods of their fabrication.

Provided is a resistive element which is excellent in inrush current resistance even in the case of having a surface-mountable small chip shape. The resistive element has an element main body composed of a semiconductor ceramic in which a main constituent thereof is composed of a Mn compound represented by the general formula (Nd1-xMx)yBazMn2O6 (M is at least one rare-earth element selected from Sm, Gd, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Y), and x, y, and z respectively meet the conditions of: 0.05≦x≦0.4; 0.80≦y≦1.2; and 0.80≦z≦1.2 in the chemical formula.

The invention provides a movable contact movable on a fixed contact or a resistor. The movable contact includes first and second sliders. The first and second sliders are arranged in such a manner as to slide along different sliding tracks from each other on the fixed contact or the resistor in accordance with movement of the movable contact.

A clamping mechanism includes a positioning member, a support plate, a frame, a fastening assembly, and an operating assembly. The support plate defines a through hole. The fastening assembly is fixed to the frame. The fastening assembly includes a fastening member and an elastic member. The positioning member extends through the through hole of the support plate, and is fastened by the fastening member under an elastic force of the elastic member. The operating assembly resists the fastening member, thereby driving the fastening member away from the positioning member.

A system and method of painting parts of large dimensions that present a certain amount of flexibility that makes their shape geometrically unstable in the event of being moved. The surface of a part is moved in front of a paint spray device by an arm of a robot, while the spray device remains stationary relative to the robot and while the part is being deformed. Other elements include a gripper for gripping parts of large dimensions, the gripper being adapted to implement the method; an installation; and a booth for performing surface treatment of parts.

Disclosed herein is a rotary jig for battery cells to successively manufacture battery cells having different sizes including a main body configured to have a hexahedral structure having a rotary rod mounted at a lower end thereof, the main body being provided at sides thereof with mounting frames having sizes corresponding to sizes of battery cells so that the battery cells can be uprightly mounted in the mounting frames in a state in which electrode terminals of the battery cells are exposed upward, a die disposed at a lower end of the main body, the die connected to the rotary rod so that the die can be rotated manually or by a rotary motor, and support members formed at the die to support the mounting frames of the main body and the battery cells mounted in the mounting frames, wherein the rotary rod is rotated so that resistance welding is performed with respect to a portion of one of battery cells to be welded using a welding rod located above the battery cell in a state in which the battery cells are mounted to the corresponding sides of the main body.

A support disk fixing apparatus which includes an upper surface to which a wafer is bonded, a lower surface, a cylindrical side surface between the upper surface and the lower surface, and a chamfered portion between the upper surface and the side surface, includes a base upon which the support disk is placed; and a fixture that is provided on the base, and that has a first surface that abuts against the side surface of the support disk and covers the side surface of the support disk, and a second surface that abuts against the chamfered portion of the support disk and covers the chamfered portion of the support disk.

The bonding apparatus is capable of effectively increasing temperature of a substrate and reducing occurrence of position gaps and poor connection in a process of flip-chip-bonding semiconductor devices to the substrate. The bonding apparatus comprises: a supporting unit for supporting the substrate, on which the semiconductor devices have been adhered by a non-conductive; and a heating/pressing unit for heating and pressing the substrate, the heating/pressing unit having a built-in heat source and a clamping face, onto which the substrate supported by the supporting unit is pressed. The substrate supported by the supporting unit is moved toward the clamping face of the heating/pressing unit so as to preheat the substrate and the semiconductor devices by radiation heat. Then, the semiconductor devices are pressed onto the clamping face of the heating/pressing unit so as to cure the non-conductive adhesive and bond bumps of the semiconductor devices to terminal sections of the substrate.

An apparatus for supporting a workpiece during processing of the workpiece is disclosed. The apparatus comprises: a chassis having a vacuum chamber that is connectable to a vacuum source; a supporting device rotatable relative to the chassis, the supporting device having a hollow compartment and a supporting surface for holding the workpiece; and at least one sealing device arranged between the chassis and the supporting device, to provide an air-tight seal between the chassis and the supporting device while allowing for rotation of the supporting device with respect to the chassis, so as to form a vacuum passage extending from the supporting surface of the supporting device through the hollow compartment of the supporting device and the vacuum chamber of the chassis to the vacuum source, to thereby hold the workpiece to the supporting surface of the supporting device during processing of the workpiece.

A turbine component repair apparatus includes: a first die having male and female halves for clamping a first section of a turbine blade with a platform and a root portion of an airfoil, the first die having a recess shaped to receive the root portion and retain a faying surface thereof in predetermined alignment; and a second die having male and female halves for clamping a repair section which defines a tip portion of the airfoil, the second die having a second recess shaped to receive the tip portion and retain a faying surface of the tip portion in predetermined alignment. The first and second dies have mating front faces configured to align their bottom surfaces in a common plane. A alignment device is removably attached to the second die to temporarily align the repair section in the absence of the male half of the second die.

An adjustment mechanism includes a first adjustment assembly and a second adjustment assembly. The first adjustment assembly includes a first regulating member and a second regulating member. The first regulating member includes a bearing plate and a first supporting portion protruding from the bearing plate. The first supporting portion includes an arcuate first supporting surface. The second regulating member includes a base body and a second supporting portion protruding from the base body away from the first supporting portion. The second supporting portion includes an arcuate second supporting surface. The second adjustment assembly includes a mounting member latched with the base body. First supporting surface resists the base body, to enable the bearing plate to rock along a curvature relative to the base body. Second supporting surface resists the mounting member, to enable the bearing plate and the base body to rock relative to the mounting member.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a conveyer configured to convey a recording medium along a conveying path in a conveying direction, an image forming unit configured to form an image on the recording medium being conveyed, a supporting member arranged in a position to face the image forming unit and configured to support the recording medium, and an aspirator configured to aspirate dust through an aspiration inlet, which is formed in a downstream position along the conveying direction with respect to the image forming unit and in proximity to a downstream end of the supporting member.

The present invention aims to provide a technique that prints characters and patterns clearly onto a tire surface without complicated operations. A tire printing device of the present invention includes a printer head that ejects and applies a coating material onto a tire surface, a widthwise moving unit that moves the printer head along the width direction of the tire, a radial moving unit that moves the printer head along the radical direction of the tire, and a swinging unit that swings the printer head around the axis along the circumferential direction of the tire.

The present invention addresses the problem of improving the quality of recorded images in ink jet recording technologies in which a plurality of nozzle lines that discharge ink of the same color are used. As a solution, nozzle lines (10) of n columns (where n is a natural number of three or more) each record a recording pixel column (2) on a recording medium by discharging ink of the same color while scanning over the recording medium (1); and when the nozzle lines (10) of n columns each extract a recording pixel column (2), which is recorded in a single scan, for each n columns in the scanning direction, ink is discharged in such a manner that there are at least two permutation patterns for the nozzle columns (10) that record each column of the extracted recording pixel columns (3).

An ink jet recording head includes a substrate having a plurality of discharge energy generation elements and having an ink supply port, a protective film provided on the substrate and configured to protect wiring connected to the discharge energy generation elements, and an ink discharge port forming member, wherein the protective film has a protruding portion, wherein the ink discharge port forming member has a beam-like protrusion, wherein the beam-like protrusion has a reinforcing rib, and wherein a separation film containing gold is formed at a portion where the protruding portion and the reinforcing rib are held in close contact with each other.

A material deposition system includes a frame, a support coupled to the frame to support an electronic substrate during a deposit operation, a gantry coupled to the frame, and a deposition head coupled to the gantry. The deposition head is movable over the support by movement of the gantry. The deposition head includes a chamber to hold material, an actuator to push a volume of material out of the chamber, a needle extending from the chamber and terminating in a needle orifice, and at least two air jets located on opposite sides of the needle orifice. A desired volume of material is formed at the needle orifice in response to the actuator, and each of the at least two air jets produce a timed pulse of air to create a micro-droplet from the desired volume and to accelerate the micro-droplet to high velocity.

Ink in an ink tank is fed through a dissolved gas control filter to a printer head. A gas pressure changing mechanism reduces pressure in a gas pressure control tank. In response, the dissolved gas control filter removes gas dissolved in the ink. The gas pressure control tank is placed under pressure corresponding to a sum of the pressure reduced by the gas pressure changing mechanism and the pressure of the gas having been removed from the liquid. A gas pressure measuring part measures the sum of these pressures as pressure in the gas pressure control tank. Then, a controller determines when time of exchange of the dissolved gas control filter has come based on the magnitude of a gradient of gas pressure variation in the gas pressure control tank.

A liquid cartridge is detachably attachable to an apparatus body of an image forming apparatus. The liquid cartridge includes a cartridge case, an information memory element, and a holding unit. The cartridge case includes at least two dividable case parts. The at least two dividable case parts form a front face of the cartridge case to face the apparatus body when the liquid cartridge is attached to the apparatus body. An information memory element is held at the front face of the cartridge case. The holding unit is provided in one of the at least two dividable case parts to hold the information memory element with only the one of the at least two dividable case parts. The holding unit includes a groove to receive the information memory element and a displaceable claw to hold the information memory element between the groove and the claw.

There are provided an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which can shorten a drying time of inks in an edge region of an image, and can form a sharp image without bleeding of the ink applied onto the edge region into a blank paper. The image processing method generates applying data for forming an image on a print medium by a relative scan between print heads for ejecting a first ink and a second ink having the same color with the first ink and lower in surface tension than the first ink, and the print medium. The image processing method generates first data for applying the first ink to a predetermined region that is adjacent to an edge region of the image and that is included in an inside region inward of the edge region, and generates second data for applying the second ink to the edge region.

An image recording method includes applying an ink containing a pigment in a dispersion to a region of a recording medium, and applying a liquid composition capable of destabilizing the dispersion of the pigment in the ink to the recording medium so as to cover at least part of the region of the recording medium. The ink further contains polymer particles, and at least one surfactant selected from the group consisting of the compounds expressed by General Formula (1) and the compounds expressed by General Formula (2). In the ink, the content of the polymer particles is 3% by mass or more and 20% by mass or less relative to the total mass of the ink, and the mass ratio of the polymer particles to the surfactant is 1 or more and 10 or less.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes: (a) a storage device for storing an image data set representing a plurality of images; (b) a liquid ejection head for performing an image formation on each recording medium; (c) a curl reduction device for reducing curl caused in each recording medium having the corresponding image formed thereon by the liquid ejection head; (d) an output tray for receiving each recording medium whose curl has been reduced by the curl reduction device, such that the received recording media are stacked on the output tray; and (e) a control device configured to control the curl reduction device, such that the curl caused in an earlier one of the recording media is reduced by a smaller degree than the curl caused in a later one of the recording media that has been subjected to the image formation later than the earlier one of the recording media.

This invention relates to a media multi-feed rejection apparatus, comprising: a plurality of feed rollers; a feed roller driving means operatively connected to one of the plurality of feed rollers; a clutch means operatively connected to the other of the plurality of feed rollers; and a single channel encoder means operatively connected to the clutch means to measure a rotation of the other of the plurality of feed rollers.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in a medium conveyance apparatus which securely supports and conveys a medium, by providing a function for applying a back tension to the medium, in a guide section which forms a guide for supporting the medium in a medium conveyance unit, it is possible to apply a back tension to the medium of which at least a portion is securely supported by the medium conveyance unit, thereby restricting the occurrence of creasing and floating when the medium is securely supported by the medium conveyance unit and maintaining the flatness of the medium which is securely supported by the medium conveyance unit.

A printing apparatus includes a housing, a carriage in which a print head is mounted, the carriage moving inside the housing, and an openable cover provided for the housing. A restricting member configured to restrict movement of the carriage during transport of the printing apparatus is attachable to the printing apparatus. While the restricting member is attached to the apparatus, the restricting member engages with the carriage, the cover in a closed position, and the housing and part of the restricting member is exposed outside of the cover in the closed position. When the part is pulled, the restricting member disengages from the carriage, the cover, and the housing and is detached from the apparatus.

An optical writing controller that controls a light source to expose a photoconductor and forms an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor calculates a correction value for correcting a superimposing position where the developed images for different colors developing each of the electrostatic latent images formed on each of the multiple photoconductors are superimposed based on the detection signal output by a pattern detection sensor that detects a pattern for correcting the superimposing position, controls the multiple light sources to draw a predetermined pattern repeatedly in the sub-scanning direction so that stepwise patterns whose width in the main scanning direction varies with repetition are formed, and determines the width in the main scanning direction of the patterns for correcting based on the strength of the detection signal output by the pattern detection sensor.

An optical scanning device includes: a driving unit that drives a light source that outputs multiple light beams; a deflecting unit that scans a scanning surface in a main-scanning direction by deflecting the light beams, the scanning surface moving at a predetermined line speed in a sub-scanning direction; and a control unit that changes number of the light beams according to the line speed by controlling the driving unit, changes a scanning speed of the deflecting unit in the main-scanning direction according to a difference between an exposure amount per unit length in the main-scanning direction after a change in the number of the light beams and a predetermined exposure amount, and changes light intensity of each of the light beams output by the light source according to an amount of a change in the scanning speed.