Patents Examined by Mark A. Chapman
  • Patent number: 11079700
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided that includes: an image bearer; a charger; an irradiator; a developing device containing a toner; and a transfer device. The image bearer has a Martens hardness of from 185 to 250 N/m2. The toner satisfies a relation 0.13?X/Dn?0.16, where X [?m] represents an average value of an amount of deformation of the toner by micro-indentation at when a load reaches 3.00×10?4 N at a loading rate of 3.0×10?5 N/sec under an environment of 32 degrees C. and 40% RH, and Dn [?m] represents a number average particle diameter of the toner. The toner contains an external additive comprising silica particles and particles composed mainly of strontium titanate. The particles composed mainly of strontium titanate further contain a third element M selected from the group consisting of La, Mg, Ca, Sn, and Si.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiji Makabe, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Kohsuke Satoh, Daichi Hisakuni, Kousuke Suzuki, Shintaro Akiyama
  • Patent number: 11079694
    Abstract: A toner for electrostatic charge image development is a toner for electrostatic charge image development including toner particles containing a binder resin and an external additive, wherein the binder resin contains a crystalline polyester resin and an amorphous polyester resin, the external additive includes Al—Si composite oxide particles, and a Si element content of the Al—Si composite oxide particles is in the range of 50 to 90 mass % and a Si element ratio on surfaces of the Al—Si composite oxide particles is in the range of 3 to 35 at %.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Kenshi Miyajima, Shinya Obara, Ikuko Sakurada
  • Patent number: 11073772
    Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developer contains toner particles, layered-compound particles that are particles of a nitrogen-containing layered compound, and a resin-coated carrier that has magnetic particles and a resin layer covering the magnetic particles. The maximum height Ry of the roughness profile as defined in JIS B0601: 1994 of the surface of the resin-coated carrier is 0.01 ?m or more and 0.20 ?m or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Takuro Watanabe, Yasuaki Hashimoto, Daisuke Noguchi, Takashi Inukai, Sakiko Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11073770
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes an electroconductive substrate; and a photosensitive layer that is formed on the electroconductive substrate and that contains an inorganic oxide and a lubricant resin which contains a polycarbonate resin having a siloxane structure therein or a polyarylate resin having a siloxane structure therein. When light having a wavelength of 780 nm is irradiated onto a slurry containing 20% by mass of the inorganic oxide in a predetermined solvent to provide an inorganic oxide slurry, the inorganic oxide slurry has a light transmittance that is 80% or more. The photosensitive layer may be a negatively-charged laminate-type photosensitive layer, a monolayer type photosensitive layer, or a positively-charged laminate-type photosensitive layer. The electrophotographic photoreceptor is less worn upon long-term use, allows no filming, and can realize stable images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fengqiang Zhu, Tomoki Hasegawa, Shinjiro Suzuki, Masaru Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11067913
    Abstract: An electrostatic image developing toner includes toner particles, layered compound particles, and inorganic particles. The proportion of irregular-shaped inorganic particles having a circularity of 0.5 or more and 0.9 or less and a size of 0.015 ?m or more and 0.350 ?m or less to the entire inorganic particles is 2% by number or more and 70% by number or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Takashi Inukai, Yasuaki Hashimoto, Daisuke Noguchi, Takuro Watanabe, Sakiko Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11061344
    Abstract: Provided is a toner including a binder resin and a colorant, wherein the colorant includes Solvent Red 49, and an acid value of the toner is 9.0 mgKOH/g or greater but 30.0 mgKOH/g or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toyoshi Sawada, Kazumi Suzuki, Natsuko Matsushita, Yu Naito
  • Patent number: 11061343
    Abstract: A toner including: a plate-shaped pigment containing a metal as a main component; and a binder resin containing polyester resin (A) that is insoluble in THF, wherein: a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-soluble component of the toner as determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is 5,000 or higher but 14,000 or lower; and a glass transition temperature (Tg) of a THF-insoluble component of the toner as determined from a differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) curve at first heating in DSC is ?60° C. or higher but 10° C. or lower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuka Mizoguchi, Ryota Inoue, Hiroshi Yamashita, Minoru Masuda, Daichi Hisakuni, Tomomi Harashima
  • Patent number: 11061345
    Abstract: A toner including toner particles, each toner particle including a toner base particle, and inorganic particles, wherein the inorganic particles include particles of a fluorine-containing aluminium compound, and a liberation ratio of the inorganic particles is 10% or greater but 60% or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohsuke Satoh, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Keiji Makabe, Daichi Hisakuni
  • Patent number: 11048183
    Abstract: An electrostatic-image developing toner includes toner particles, aggregated silica particles A treated with an oil, and aggregated or non-aggregated silica particles B rendered hydrophobic with a hydrophobizing agent other than an oil. The average particle size Da of the aggregated silica particles A and the average particle size Db of the silica particles B satisfy Da?Db. The electrostatic-image developing toner does not include any external additive other than the aggregated silica particles A or the silica particles B, or the electrostatic-image developing toner includes an external additive other than the aggregated silica particles A or the silica particles B, the other external additive having an average particle size smaller than the average particle size Da.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Takuro Watanabe, Yoshimasa Fujihara, Daisuke Noguchi, Shintaro Anno, Satoshi Miura
  • Patent number: 11036153
    Abstract: A toner set includes a color toner and a transparent toner that has a pressure phase transition property. The color toner and the transparent toner satisfy 1.0?tan ?1?4.0 and 1.2?tan ?1/tan ?2?3.0 where tan ?1 represents tan ? of the color toner at 100° C., and tan ?2 represents tan ? of the transparent toner at 100° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takahiro Ishizuka, Yasunobu Kashima, Hajime Sugahara, Susumu Yoshino
  • Patent number: 11036151
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor, including a photosensitive layer formed on an electroconductive substrate. The photosensitive layer includes a charge-generating material and an electron-transporting material, and the electron-transporting material includes first and second electron-transporting materials. A difference in lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy between the first electron-transporting material and the charge-generating material is in a range from 1.0 to 1.5 eV, and a difference in LUMO energy between the second electron-transporting material and the charge-generating material is in a range from 0.6 to 0.9 eV. A ratio of mass of the second electron-transporting material to a total of mass of the first electron-transporting material and the mass of the second electron-transporting material is in a range from 3 to 40%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Seizo Kitagawa, Kazuya Saito, Shinjiro Suzuki, Toshiki Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11036156
    Abstract: A toner is provided which includes: a toner base particle including a binder resin; and an external additive including inorganic particles. A particle size distribution of primary particles of the inorganic particles has a plurality of peaks in the range of from 5 nm through 50 nm. The particle size distribution of the primary particles satisfies all of expressions (1) to (3) below: n1d>n2d??(1); 10<(n1d+n2d)??(2); and 30?{(n2h/n1h)×100}<100??(3), where n1d is a particle diameter (nm) at a peak n1 which is the highest peak among the plurality of peaks and n2d is a particle diameter (nm) of a peak n2 which is the second highest peak among the plurality of peaks, and n1h is a height of the peak n1 and n2h is a height of the peak n2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohtaroh Ogino, Masayuki Ishii, Masayuki Kakimoto, Shohichi Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 11036152
    Abstract: Provided is a toner including a binder resin, a release agent, and a charge-controlling agent, wherein the toner includes toner particles having particle diameters of 3 micrometers or smaller, among the toner particles having particle diameters of 3 micrometers or smaller, a proportion of the toner particles having an average circularity of 0.70 or greater but 0.85 or less in all of the toner particles is 10% by number or greater but less than 20% by number and a proportion of the toner particles having an average circularity of less than 0.70 in all of the toner particles is 10% by number or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shohta Kobayashi, Satoshi Ogawa, Yoshitaka Sekiguchi, Masayuki Ishii, Naoko Kitada
  • Patent number: 11029617
    Abstract: A white toner comprising a toner particle including a binder resin, an inorganic white pigment, and a polyvalent metal salt compound, wherein the inorganic white pigment has an acidic group at a surface thereof; an amount of the inorganic white pigment in the toner particle is 10% to 50% by volume; the polyvalent metal salt compound is a specific compound; an absolute value of the difference between an SP value (J/cm3)1/2 of the binder resin and that of the polyvalent metal salt compound is 0.0 to 6.0; and an amount of the polyvalent metal salt compound, an amount of a polyvalent metal, the amount of the inorganic white pigment, and an amount of the acidic group at a surface of the inorganic white pigment satisfy a specific relationship.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuya Chimoto, Kouichirou Ochi, Hayato Ida
  • Patent number: 11022905
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toner binder containing: a polyester resin (A); and a vinyl resin (B), wherein the polyester resin (A) is a resin obtained by crosslinking a polyester (A1) by one or more carbon-carbon bonds, the vinyl resin (B) is a polymer containing a monomer (a) as an essential constituent monomer, the monomer (a) is a C21-C40 (meth)acrylate having an acyclic hydrocarbon group, and the weight proportion of the monomer (a) in monomers constituting the vinyl resin (B) is 15 to 99% by weight based on the weight of the vinyl resin (B).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: SANYO CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Masaru Honda, Seiji Odaka, Daiki Kuroda
  • Patent number: 11016403
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoconductor is provided that includes a conductive substrate, an undercoat layer overlying the conductive substrate, and a photosensitive layer overlying the undercoat layer. The undercoat layer contains zinc oxide particles and a binder resin and has a volume resistivity of 0.03×106 ?·cm or less in an electrical field of 5 V/?m at a temperature of 23 degrees C. and a relative humidity of 55%. The photosensitive layer contains a compound represented by the following general formula (1): where each of R1 to R3 independently represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms which may have a substituent, or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideki Nakamura, Tadayoshi Uchida, Shuya Sugimoto, Mitsuaki Hirose, Noboru Toriu, Kaori Harada
  • Patent number: 11003105
    Abstract: A toner including a toner particle containing a binder resin and an external additive, wherein the external additive contains composite particles of an organosilicon polymer fine particle and a fatty acid metal salt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masamichi Sato, Shohei Kototani, Kentaro Yamawaki, Tsuneyoshi Tominaga, Masatake Tanaka, Taiji Katsura
  • Patent number: 11003103
    Abstract: A toner including: a toner particle that includes a binder resin and a crystalline material, wherein the binder resin includes a vinyl resin having an ether structure, and where intensities of secondary ion mass/secondary ion charge number (m/z) of 59, 44, and 135 are denoted by A (ppm), B (ppm), and C (ppm), respectively, in a measurement of the toner by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, the intensities at 100 nm from the surface of the toner satisfy the relationships of the following formulas (1) and (2): C/(A+B)?1.00??(1) (A+B)?2000??(2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tetsuya Kinumatsu, Kosuke Fukudome, Takaaki Furui, Koji Nishikawa
  • Patent number: 11003101
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer. The photosensitive layer is a single layer. The photosensitive layer contains a charge generating material, a hole transport material, an electron transport material, and a binder resin. The hole transport material includes a compound represented by chemical formula (1-1) or (1-2). The photosensitive layer further contains an n-type pigment. The n-type pigment is preferably an azo pigment or a perylene pigment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Yuko Iwashita, Kazunari Hamasaki
  • Patent number: 10996579
    Abstract: A magnetic core material for electrophotographic developer, satisfying a value of Expression (1): a+b×10+c+d+e+f, being from 200 to 1,400, when an amount of fluorine ion is denoted by a (ppm), an amount of chlorine ion is denoted by b (ppm), an amount of bromide ion is denoted by c (ppm), an amount of nitrite ion is denoted by d (ppm), an amount of nitrate ion is denoted by e (ppm), and an amount of sulfate ion is denoted by f (ppm), which are measured by combustion ion chromatography; and having a pore volume of from 30 to 100 mm3/g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: POWDERTECH CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroki Sawamoto, Tetsuya Uemura