Patents Examined by Hoa V. Le
  • Toner
    Patent number: 9500974
    Abstract: A toner includes a plurality of toner particles each including a core and a shell layer disposed over a surface of the core. The shell layers include a resin containing a unit derived from a thermoplastic resin and a unit derived from a monomer or prepolymer of a thermosetting resin. The toner has an average roundness of no less than 0.965 and no greater than 0.975. The toner contains less than 0.5% by number of toner particles having a roundness of no greater than 0.85. The toner has a displacement rate of no less than 0.50% and no greater than 0.70% as measured in a micro-compression test that is performed on the toner under specified conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Masashi Tamagaki, Tomoyuki Ogawa
  • Toner, image forming apparatus, image forming method, process cartridge, and two-component developer
    Patent number: 9494886
    Abstract: To provide a toner, which contains: a colorant; a resin; and a releasing agent, wherein a spin-spin relaxation time (T2s) originated from a soft component is 0.10 msec to 0.50 msec, where the soft component is obtained with a hard component from an echo signal of the toner by a solid-echo technique of pulsed NMR, and a proportion of a proton intensity of the soft component is 50.0% or lower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mio Kumai, Hideki Sugiura
  • Method of producing electrophotographic photosensitive member
    Patent number: 9494882
    Abstract: The invention has a process of preparing a dispersion liquid by dispersing particles containing a charge transporting substance and a binder resin in liquid medium containing a specific liquid to prepare a dispersion liquid and a process of forming a coat of the dispersion liquid, and heating and drying the coat to dissolve the particles containing the charge transporting substance and the binder resin with liquid medium to form a charge transporting layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keiko Yamagishi, Harunobu Ogaki, Kimihiro Yoshimura, Hiroki Uematsu, Yohei Miyauchi, Atsushi Okuda
  • Toner and method of manufacturing same
    Patent number: 9488926
    Abstract: A toner includes a plurality of toner particles that each include a toner mother particle and an external additive adhering to a surface of the toner mother particle. The toner mother particle includes a core and a shell layer disposed over a surface of the core. The external additive contains silica particles. The toner mother particle has a hydrophobicity of at least 0% and less than 20%. The external additive has a hydrophobicity of at least 5% and no greater than 20%. The hydrophobicity of the toner mother particle is less than the hydrophobicity of the external additive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Masashi Tamagaki, Tomoyuki Ogawa
  • White toner, and image forming method and image forming apparatus using the white toner
    Patent number: 9482971
    Abstract: A white toner has a first temperature range not less than 25° C. in which 60° glossiness is 10 or less between a fixable minimum temperature and a fixable maximum temperature thereof. The white toner has a second temperature range not less than 25° C. in which 60° glossiness is from 30 to 60 therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazumi Suzuki, Hisashi Nakajima, Masashi Nagayama, Saori Yamada, Yoshitaka Yamauchi, Yu Naito
  • Two-component developer
    Patent number: 9482977
    Abstract: Disclosed is a two-component developer containing toner particles and carrier particles. The number-average particle diameter of the toner particles MDt ranges from 3.5 to 5.0 ?m. The MDt of the toner particles and the volume-average particle diameter of the carrier particles MDc are at a specific ratio, and spherical fine toner particles in the toner particles and fine carrier particles in the carrier particles exist at specific percentages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Shinya Obara, Satoshi Uchino, Kosuke Nakamura
  • Liquid developer, developer cartridge, and image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 9482978
    Abstract: A liquid developer includes a carrier liquid, and a toner particle which contains a resin having an unsaturated double bond, a compound represented by the formula (I) and a photopolymerization initiator and whose surface is treated by a polyamine, wherein m and n each independently represent an integer of 1 to 10,000; m+n represents an integer of 10 to 10,000; and R1, R2, and R3 each independently represent a single bond or a divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Koji Horiba, Masahiro Oki, Yoshihiro Inaba, Akira Imai, Daisuke Yoshino, Takako Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Moriya
  • Imaging members having electrically and mechanically tuned imaging layers
    Patent number: 9482969
    Abstract: An electrophotographic imaging member which has improved imaging layer(s) formulated to comprise a charge transport compound and a polymer blended binder to render photoelectrical stability, tune-ability, and surface contact friction reduction for providing service life extension. The polymer blended binder used in the imaging layer(s) is a binary polymer blend binder consisting of: (1) an A-B diblock copolymer and a bisphenol polycarbonate and a low surface energy polysiloxane/polycarbonate random copolymer and (2) an A-B diblock copolymer and a low surface energy graft polysiloxane/polycarbonate copolymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Robert C. U. Yu, Stephen T. Avery, Jimmy E. Kelly
  • Electrostatic charge image developing toner, electrostatic charge image developer, and toner cartridge
    Patent number: 9477166
    Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developing toner, includes toner particles containing a binder resin including a polyester resin, a release agent including a hydrocarbon wax, and a styrene (meth)acrylic resin, wherein 70% or more of the release agent is present within 800 nm from a surface of the toner particles, the styrene (meth)acrylic resin in the toner particles forms a domain having an average diameter from 0.3 ?m to 0.8 ?m, and a number ratio of the domain being in a range of ±0.1 ?m of the average diameter is 65% or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eisuke Iwazaki, Asafumi Fujita, Tomoaki Tanaka, Narumasa Sato, Kotaro Yoshihara, Noriyuki Mizutani
  • Toner, method of manufacturing the toner, and developer, image forming apparatus, image forming method, and process cartridge using the toner
    Patent number: 9470996
    Abstract: A toner is provided. The toner includes a core particle, a second shell layer overlying the core particle, and a first shell layer overlying the second shell layer and constituting an outermost layer. The second shell layer includes a crystalline resin, and the first shell layer includes an amorphous resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Yamauchi, Kazumi Suzuki
  • Electrostatic charge image developing toner, electrostatic charge image developer, and toner cartridge
    Patent number: 9470994
    Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developing toner includes toner particles containing a binder resin including a polyester resin, a release agent including a hydrocarbon wax, and a styrene (meth)acrylic resin, wherein 70% or more of the release agent with respect to the entire release agent is present within 800 nm from the surface of the toner particles, wherein the styrene (meth)acrylic resin forms domains having an average diameter of 0.3 ?m to 0.8 ?m in the toner particles, and wherein a number ratio of the domains included in a range of the average diameter±0.1 ?m is less than 65%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kotaro Yoshihara, Noriyuki Mizutani, Tomoaki Tanaka, Eisuke Iwazaki, Asafumi Fujita, Narumasa Sato, Erina Saito
  • Electrophotographic photosensitive member, process cartridge, electrophotographic apparatus, and gallium phthalocyanine crystal
    Patent number: 9459542
    Abstract: Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive member, a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus each having the electrophotographic photosensitive member that can output an image having less image defects due to a ghost phenomenon not only under a normal-temperature, normal-humidity environment but also under a low-temperature, low-humidity environment as a particularly severe condition. The electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a support and a photosensitive layer formed on the support, in which the photosensitive layer includes a gallium phthalocyanine crystal containing a specific amine compound in itself.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masato Tanaka, Masataka Kawahara, Kaname Watariguchi, Takeshi Murakami, Akira Yoshida
  • Toner to develop electrostatic latent images
    Patent number: 9459546
    Abstract: A toner to develop electrostatic latent images which uses an appropriate combination of a high molecular weight binder resin and a low molecular weight binder resin, an appropriate amount of a releasing agent, and a combination of silica particles and iron oxide particles as external additives, and thus has the following effects: the toner may reduce a generation amount of ultra-fine particles (UFPs) and have enhanced fluidity, charging uniformity, charging stability, transfer efficiency, fixability, durability and a cleaning ability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS, CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Se-young Yoon, Sung-jin Park, Hong-chul Shin, Seung-sik Woo, In-su Lee
  • Electrophotographic toner
    Patent number: 9454095
    Abstract: An electrophotographic toner includes capsule toner particles that each include an anionic toner core having a zeta potential at pH 4 of no greater than ?5 mV and a cationic shell layer disposed over a surface of the toner core. Each of the capsule toner particles has, at a surface thereof, a sodium concentration of no less than 200 ppm and no greater than 1,000 ppm as measured by an ICP spectrometer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Hidetoshi Miyamoto
  • Electrophotographic toner using bioplastic and method of producing the same
    Patent number: 9448499
    Abstract: An electrophotographic toner having good grindability, and excellent fixability and durability, and a method of producing the same are provided. The electrophotographic toner includes an amorphous bioplastic having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of 30,000 to 100,000, and at least one of a phenol resin and a terpene phenol resin as a grinding aid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji Kihira, Hideki Ikeda, Yuichiro Iegaki, Yuta Kan
  • Electrophotographic printer photoconductor based on ligand-free semiconductor quantum dots
    Patent number: 9448498
    Abstract: A photoconductor and method of forming a photoconductor for an electrophotographic device comprising forming a charge generation material comprising a plurality of quantum dots, and forming an active region comprising one or more photoconductor layers comprising the charge generation material including the surface modified quantum dots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: BROTHER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Farzad Parsapour, Rodney Loyd
  • Electrophotographic photoreceptor including a copolymer polyarylate resin, production method therefor, electrophotographic device including the photoreceptor, and production method for the copolymer polyarylate resin
    Patent number: 9442400
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer which includes, as a resin binder, a copolymeric polyarylate resin having structural units of a Chemical Structural Formula 1, a method of producing the photoreceptor, an electrophotographic device including the electrophotographic photoreceptor, and a method of preparing the copolymeric polyarylate resin are provided. The electrophotographic photoreceptor reduces the amount of abrasion at the surface of a photoreceptor drum and lowers frictional resistance from the beginning until the end of printing, and moreover provides good images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fengqiang Zhu, Shinjiro Suzuki, Quanqiu Zhang, Seishi Terasaki
  • Electrostatic charge image developing toner, liquid developer, and toner cartridge
    Patent number: 9436113
    Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developing toner includes a toner particle that contains a binder resin and is surface-modified by a polymer obtained by polymerizing a monomer containing dicyandiamide and diethylenetriamine, wherein toner particles have positive charging properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masahiro Oki, Akira Imai, Koji Horiba, Takako Kobayashi, Daisuke Yoshino, Yoshihiro Inaba, Hiroyuki Moriya
  • Toner and two-component developer
    Patent number: 9436112
    Abstract: Provided are a toner and a two-component developer each of which: shows a small fluctuation in charge quantity and a small fluctuation in image density even under a high-temperature and high-humidity environment; and does not cause any member contamination even after endurance and hence can stably output an image. The toner and the two-component developer each have a feature in that positively chargeable strontium titanate fine particles are added to toner particles having fixed thereto negatively chargeable silica fine particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yosuke Iwasaki, Nozomu Komatsu, Takakuni Kobori, Kohji Takenaka, Hideki Kaneko, Takeshi Hashimoto, Ichiro Kanno, Hiroyuki Fujikawa
  • Electrophotographic device member
    Patent number: 9436151
    Abstract: An electrophotographic device member can be configured as a roll member 1, a blade member 2, a belt member 3 or the like, and a modified rubber elastic body 12 is used as a material for a portion including the surfaces of the respective members. The modified rubber elastic body 12 has a rubber elastic body 121 having rubber elasticity and a surface-treated layer 122 composed of a cured product of photocurable composition impregnated into the rubber elastic body 121 from the surface thereof. The photocurable composition is configured to include a (meth)acryl monomer, a photopolymerizable polymer having a silicone group and/or a fluorine-containing group and a (meth)acryloyl group in a molecule, and a photopolymerization initiator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RIKO COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Yosuke Hayashi, Shuichi Egawa, Keiichi Inoue, Kazushi Yamaguchi, Kazuhiro Iida, Kentaro Imai, Masanori Ishida