Patents Examined by Hoa V. Le
  • Patent number: 9897936
    Abstract: A curable liquid developer production method that can efficiently produce a curable liquid developer is provided. A curable liquid developer is also provided. The method is a method of producing a curable liquid developer containing a pigment, a binder resin, a toner particle dispersing agent, and a curable insulating liquid, this method including: a pigment dispersion step of preparing a pigment dispersion containing a pigment, a binder resin, a toner particle dispersing agent, and a solvent; a mixing step of mixing the pigment dispersion with a curable insulating liquid; and a distillative removal step of distillatively removing the solvent from a mixture obtained in the mixing step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryo Natori, Waka Hasegawa, Ayano Mashida, Junji Ito, Yasuhiro Aichi, Jun Shirakawa
  • Patent number: 9897932
    Abstract: A toner comprising: a toner particle containing a toner base particle containing a binder resin and a colorant, and a resin particle fixed to a surface of the toner base particle; and an inorganic fine particle A, wherein the surface of the toner particle has protruded portions originating in the resin particle, an average length (D) of long sides of the protruded portions is 50 nm to 300 nm, an average Height (H) of the protruded portions is 25 nm to 250 nm, the average long-side length and the average height of the protruded portions satisfies a specific relationship, and an average value of a compactness of the inorganic fine particle A is 0.40 to 0.80, and the attachment rate of the inorganic fine particles A is 0.1% to 5.0% by area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yojiro Hotta, Kazuo Terauchi, Tsuneyoshi Tominaga, Akane Masumoto, Takuya Mizuguchi, Motohide Shiozawa, Takeshi Naka, Masami Fujimoto, Shingo Ito, Kousuke Yamamoto, Yasukazu Ikami
  • Patent number: 9891543
    Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developing toner includes toner particles and an external additive that includes silica particles having a compression aggregation degree of 60% to 95% and a particle compression ratio of 0.20 to 0.40 and fatty acid metal salt particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuo Kadokura, Hiroyoshi Okuno, Satoshi Inoue, Yoshifumi Iida, Tomohito Nakajima, Yuka Zenitani, Yoshifumi Eri, Yasuhisa Morooka, Shunsuke Nozaki, Takeshi Iwanaga, Sakae Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 9880479
    Abstract: Toner that includes a polyester resin, fluorine and aluminum. The toner satisfies formulae (1) and (2), 1.00?AB/B?0.50??(1) 0?(A?AB)/A?0.25??(2) where A represents an area where the fluorine exists measured by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), B represents an area where the aluminum exists measured by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and AB represents an overlapping area between A and B. Toner stored unit, image forming apparatus, and image forming method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Santoh, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Akinori Saitoh, Shin Hasegawa, Suzuka Amemori, Kohsuke Nagata, Koh Ohnuma
  • Patent number: 9880477
    Abstract: The invention provides an image forming apparatus and an electrophotographic photoreceptor, comprising: a conductive support; and at least a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer on the conductive support, wherein said charge generation layer contains a hydroxygallium phthalocyanine synthesized using a halogen solvent, said charge transport layer contains a polyester resin having a specific structural unit, and said charge transport layer is formed using a non-halogen solvent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akiteru Fujii
  • Patent number: 9874824
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising at least a photosensitive layer on a conductive substrate, wherein the photosensitive layer is a laminate having a charge transport layer and a charge generation layer, the charge transport layer contains four or more types of compounds each having a maximum absorption wavelength falling within a wavelength range of from 300 nm to 600 nm in a tetrahydrofuran solution at 25° C., and maximum absorption wavelengths falling within the wavelength range of at least four types of the compounds of said four or more types of the compounds are separated from each other by 10 nm or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akira Ando
  • Patent number: 9874829
    Abstract: Provided is a dispersant for liquid development represented by general formula (1): where R1 represents a monovalent organic group having a polar group, A1 and A2 each represent an oxygen or sulfur atom, L1 and L2 each represent a divalent organic linking group, X represents a (m+n)-valent organic linking group having an alkyleneoxy group, P1 represents a polymer chain containing a unit represented by general formula (2), and m and n each represent a number of 1 to 9, with m+n being an integer of 2 to 10: where R2 and R3 each represent a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, L3 represents a carbonyloxy, oxycarbonyl, carbonyl, or phenylene group, and R4 represents a monovalent organic group having at least one selected from a carboxy group, a polyoxyalkylene group, an amino group, a sulfo group, and derivatives of the foregoing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Mieko Seki, Yasuo Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 9869943
    Abstract: A method of producing a toner containing a toner particle, including the steps of: a) preparing a resin solution by mixing a resin A and an organic solvent, b) mixing the resin solution, a resin fine particle containing a resin B, and a dispersion medium to form a droplet of the resin solution whose surface has been covered with the resin fine particle, and c) removing the organic solvent in the droplet, in which the resin B is a polymer of a monomer composition containing a monomer X having polymerizable unsaturated groups at the both ends; the monomer X has a peak molecular weight of 5,000 to 50,000; the content of the monomer X is 0.10% to 3.00% by mol; and the following formula (1) is satisfied, |SPX?SPA|?2.0??(1) where SPA and SPX represent solubility parameters of the resin A and the monomer X, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenji Aoki, Yusuke Kosaki, Tetsuya Kinumatsu, Shuntaro Watanabe, Noritaka Toyoizumi, Atsushi Tani, Takashige Kasuya
  • Patent number: 9857713
    Abstract: Provided is a toner, comprising a toner particle having a core-shell structure composed of a core particle and a shell phase on a surface of the core particle, the core particle containing a resin X and a colorant, the shell phase being derived from a resin fine particle containing a resin Y, in which a relationship among a SP value of the resin X, a SP value of the resin Y, and a SP value of an organic solvent falls within a specific range, and a relationship between a number-average particle diameter of the resin fine particle when the resin fine particle is dispersed in water and a number-average particle diameter of the resin fine particle when the resin fine particle is dispersed in the organic solvent falls within a specific range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yusuke Kosaki, Tetsuya Kinumatsu, Kenji Aoki, Noritaka Toyoizumi, Shuntaro Watanabe, Takaaki Kaya, Atsushi Tani, Takashige Kasuya, Kazumichi Nakahama, Shinnosuke Koji
  • Patent number: 9857709
    Abstract: To provide a toner, containing: a binder resin; a colorant; a releasing agent; and a crystalline polyester resin, wherein the toner satisfies the following formulae (1) to (3): 40° C.?X?55° C. Formula (1) 85° C.?Y?92° C. Formula (2) 35° C.?Y?X?50° C. Formula (3) where X is an onset temperature and Y is an endset temperature of an endothermic peak on a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curve of the toner as measured by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Watanabe, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Mamoru Hozumi, Tomoyuki Sato, Shinya Hanatani
  • Patent number: 9857714
    Abstract: A method of making a liquid electrophotographic (LEP) paste is disclosed herein. A base paste is made by forming a dispersion of a pigment and a non-polar carrier, adding a transparent resin dispersion to the pigment dispersion to form a dispersion mixture, and homogenizing the dispersion mixture. The transparent resin dispersion includes a polymer dispersed in a non-aqueous carrier. The homogenizing may be accomplished by agitating the dispersion mixture at a frequency of less than 1 kHz, thereby forming the paste.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Doris Pik-Yiu Chun
  • Patent number: 9857705
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes an electroconductive support, and an intermediate layer, charge generation layer containing a charge generation material, and a charge transport layer containing a charge transport material sequentially disposed on the electroconductive support, wherein the intermediate layer contains a compound having two or more diarylphosphine oxide structures and a resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masato Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9857716
    Abstract: A curable liquid developer containing a curable insulating liquid and a toner particle that contains a pigment and a resin, wherein the viscosity of the curable insulating liquid at 25° C. is at least 1 mPa·s and not more than 100 mPa·s, and when A (mPa·s) is the viscosity of the curable liquid developer at 25° C. in a case where the toner particle concentration in the curable liquid developer is 50 mass %, and B (mPa·s) is the viscosity of the curable liquid developer at 25° C. in a case where the toner particle concentration in the curable liquid developer is 1 mass %, the value of A?B is not more than 1,000 mPa·s.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryo Natori, Waka Hasegawa, Ayano Mashida, Junji Ito, Yasuhiro Aichi, Jun Shirakawa
  • Patent number: 9851647
    Abstract: A photoconductor that includes, for example, a supporting substrate, an optional ground plane layer, an optional hole blocking layer, an optional adhesive layer, a photogenerating layer, and a charge transport layer, and where the charge transport layer contains a mixture of a charge transport component and a polycarbonate AP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Jin Wu, Kenny-Tuan Dinh, Lanhui Zhang, Jimmy E. Kelly, Mark S. Thomas, Min-Hong Fu, Lin Ma, Markus R. Silvestri, Marc J. LiVecchi, Robert W. Hedrick, Linda L. Ferrarese
  • Patent number: 9846379
    Abstract: The production process of the present invention includes: a first step of heating a dispersion containing an aqueous medium and a binder resin containing a crystalline resin to a temperature higher than or equal to the melting point of the crystalline resin in a step of aggregating and fusing a fine particle of the binder resin containing the crystalline resin to produce a toner base particle; a second step of cooling the dispersion having been heated in the first step and having a temperature higher than the recrystallization temperature Rc of the crystalline resin to a temperature lower than Rc at a temperature-lowering rate of 1° C./min or higher; and a third step of maintaining the dispersion having been cooled in the second step at a temperature higher than or equal to Rc?25° C. and lower than or equal to Rc?5° C. for 30 minutes or longer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Junya Onishi, Shiro Hirano, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Aya Shirai
  • Patent number: 9841716
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes an intermediate layer, a photosensitive layer, and a surface protective layer, deposited in this order on an electroconductive support. The surface protective layer includes a resin and a p-type semiconductor microparticle contained in the resin. The intermediate layer includes a resin and at least one metal oxide microparticle contained in the resin. The at least one metal oxide microparticle is selected from the group consisting of untreated tin oxide particles, tin oxide particles surface-treated with organic compounds, untreated anatase titanium oxide particles, anatase titanium oxide particles surface-treated with organic compounds, untreated rutile titanium oxide particles, and rutile titanium oxide particles surface-treated with organic compounds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Masanori Yumita, Toshiyuki Fujita, Daisuke Kodama
  • Patent number: 9835966
    Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developer includes an electrostatic charge image developing toner that includes toner particles, and an external additive which is added to the toner particles and which includes silica particles whose compression aggregation degree is from 60% to 95% and particle compression ratio is from 0.20 to 0.40, and a carrier for developing an electrostatic charge image that includes a core particle and a resin coated layer which covers a surface of the core particle and that has a surface roughness Ra (based on JIS-B0601) of 0.5 ?m or less and a circularity of 0.975 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Morooka, Hiroyoshi Okuno, Satoshi Inoue, Yoshifumi Iida, Tomohito Nakajima, Yuka Zenitani, Yoshifumi Eri, Takeshi Iwanaga, Sakae Takeuchi, Shunsuke Nozaki, Yasuo Kadokura
  • Patent number: 9829811
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer. The photosensitive layer contains at least a charge generating material, a hole transport material, and a binder resin. The hole transport material is a compound represented by the following general formula (1). The binder resin is a resin represented by the following general formula (2). In general formula (1), R1 and R3 each independently represent an alkyl group, an aryl group, an aralkyl group, or an alkoxy group; and R2 and R4 each independently represent an alkyl group, or an alkoxy group. In general formula (2), R23, R24, and R25 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or a C1-4 alkyl group, at least one of R23, R24, and R25 representing a C1-4 alkyl group; p+q=1.00, and 0.35?p<1.00; and n represents 2 or 3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Jun Azuma, Takahiro Oki, Keiji Maruo
  • Patent number: 9829815
    Abstract: There is provided a toner including toner base particles and an external additive in which the external additive is prevented from being buried in the base particles. The toner can maintain a high transfer efficiency over an extended period of use. The toner includes: (1) toner base particles containing a cycloolefin copolymer and a polyethylene; or (2) toner base particles whose surfaces contain a resin having an elastic deformation rate of 70% or more and a melting temperature of 125.0° C. or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Makoto Fukatsu, Manami Haraguchi, Atsushi Nakamoto, Masayoshi Kato, Kazuhisa Kemmochi, Takahiro Kawamoto, Takeshi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 9829819
    Abstract: A toner set for electrostatic image development includes a cyan toner, a magenta toner, and a yellow toner, wherein the Vicat softening temperatures of the toners are respectively in the range of from about 30° C. to about 60° C., and among the toners, the difference between the Vicat softening temperature of the toner having the highest Vicat softening temperature and the Vicat softening temperature of the toner having the lowest Vicat softening temperature is from about 1° C. to about 5° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroko Kobayashi