Patents by Inventor Junichi Awamura

Junichi Awamura has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8518622
    Abstract: A toner containing a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent, wherein the colorant contains a mixed crystal of a C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 185 and a C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 139, and wherein a mass ratio of the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 185 to the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 139 (mass of the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 185/mass of the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 139) in the toner is 95/5 to 50/50.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ogawa, Daisuke Inoue, Daisuke Ito, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura, Teruki Kusahara, Satoshi Kojima, Mamoru Hozumi, Shoko Sato
  • Publication number: 20130196260
    Abstract: A toner including: a binder resin containing a non-crystalline resin and a crystalline resin; a colorant; and, a releasing agent, wherein the releasing agent has a melting point of 55° C. to 80° C., and wherein the toner satisfies the following Expressions 1 and 2: (Expression 1): 20,000 Pa·s?G1?50,000 Pa·s; and (Expression 2): (G4/G2)/(G3/G1) 1.00, where G1 is a storage modulus, G2 is a loss modulus, G3 is a storage modulus and G4 is a loss modulus, and the storage modulus G1 and the loss modulus G2 are measured at 80° C. when the toner is heated from 70° C. to 150° C. and the storage modulus G3 and the loss modulus G4 are measured at 80° C. when the toner heated to 150° C. is cooled to 70° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Inventors: Ryuuta YOSHIDA, Takahiro HONDA, Junichi AWAMURA, Osamu UCHINOKURA, Masaki WATANABE, Daisuke INOUE, Tomoki MURAYAMA, Mamoru HOZUMI
  • Patent number: 8492063
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a toner including forming a wax liquid dispersion in which a wax is dispersed in an organic solvent (A1), mixing an organic layer including the wax liquid dispersion, a binder resin and an organic solvent (A) to form an oil phase and dispersing and emulsifying the oil phase in an aqueous medium to obtain an emulsified liquid dispersion, wherein the aspect ratio average of the wax in the wax liquid dispersion is from 0.3 to 0.7 and the toner includes toner particles satisfying the following relationship (1) in an amount of 20% by number or smaller based on all toner particles: 0.5<D2/D1, relationship (1), where D1 represents the major diameter (D1) of the toner and D2 represents the major diameter of the wax.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Junichi Awamura, Akinori Saitoh, Masahide Yamada, Osamu Uchinokura, Tomomi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8455172
    Abstract: A method for producing a toner, containing: dispersing, in an aqueous medium, an oil phase which contains an organic solvent, and a binder resin component contained in the organic solvent, where the binder resin component contains a crystalline polyester resin and an amorphous polyester resin; and removing the organic solvent from the dispersion to obtain the toner, in which the dispersing further contains heating and dissolving the crystalline polyester and the amorphous polyester in the organic solvent to obtain a solution, cooling the solution so as to recrystallize the crystalline polyester resin, and mechanically pulverizing the recrystallized crystalline polyester resin so as to obtain a crystalline polyester dispersion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Awamura, Hiroshi Yamashita, Teruki Kusahara, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Tomomi Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20130130171
    Abstract: A toner including a core particle, an inner shell layer covering the core, and an outer shell layer covering the inner shell layer is provided. The core particle includes a resin P. The inner shell layer includes fine particles of a resin A. The outer shell layer includes fine particles of a resin B. The toner satisfies the following formulae (1) to (3): 4.5?T½(P)?Tfb(P)?14??(1) 20?T½(A)?Tfb(A)?40??(2) 23.5?T½(B)?Tfb(B)?40??(3) wherein T½(P), T½(A), and T½(B) represent ½ method temperatures of the resins P, A, and B, respectively, and Tfb(P), Tfb(A), and Tfb(B) represent flow beginning temperatures of the resins P, A, and B, respectively, and wherein the ½ method temperatures and the flow beginning temperatures are measured by a flowtester.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Publication date: May 23, 2013
    Inventors: Masaki Watanabe, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura, Takahiro Honda, Satoshi Ogawa, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Hiroshi Yamashita
  • Patent number: 8367292
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin, a coloring agent, and a releasing agent, the toner formed by dispersing a toner liquid material which is prepared by dispersing the binder resin, the prepolymer, an elongation agent and/or a cross-linking agent for the prepolymer, the coloring agent, and the releasing agent in an organic solvent, dispersing the toner liquid material in an aqueous medium to obtain a liquid dispersion in at least one of cross linking reaction and elongation reaction, and removing the organic solvent from the liquid dispersion, and the toner satisfying the following relationship: 1.35< or =M(g)/M(p)< or =1.90, where M(g) represents the content of the gel composition formed in the at least one of cross linking reaction and elongation reaction and M(P) represents the content of the prepolymer in the toner liquid material when the total of M(P) and the content of the binder resin in the toner liquid material is set to be 100 g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Teruki Kusahara, Junichi Awamura, Tomomi Suzuki, Toshihiko Karato
  • Publication number: 20130022371
    Abstract: To provide a toner, which contains a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent, wherein the binder resin contains a low molecular weight resin component, where the low molecular weight resin component has a resin softening coefficient (A), represented by the following formula (1), satisfying A>0.165, and has storage elastic modulus (dyne/cm2) G?(Tfb) satisfying G?(Tfb)?1×104 where Tfb is a flow onset temperature (° C.) of the low molecular weight resin component as measured by a capillary rheometer: A=|[ln G?(r1)?ln G?(r2)]/(T1?T2)|??Formula (1) (where T1 is temperature (° C.) at which storage elastic modulus G?(r1) is 1×105 (dyne/cm2) and T2 is temperature (° C.) at which storage elastic modulus G?(r2) is 1×103 (dyne/cm2) as measured by means of a viscoelasticity measuring device with measuring frequency of 1 Hz, and measuring distortion of 1 deg; and ? represents an absolute value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Publication date: January 24, 2013
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Teruki Kusahara, Junichi Awamura, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Hyo Shu, Tomomi Suzuki, Osamu Uchinokura, Takahiro Honda, Satoshi Kojima, Satoshi Ogawa, Daisuke Inoue, Koshi Sato, Daisuke Ito, Ryuuta Yoshida, Syouko Satoh
  • Publication number: 20120288299
    Abstract: A set of toners including yellow, cyan, magenta, and black toner, each of which containing a binder resin containing a crystalline resin and a non-crystalline resin, a releasing agent, and a corresponding coloring agent, wherein the following relationship is satisfied: 0.8<EBk/EFc<0.95, where EBk represents the amount of heat of melting (mJ/mg) for the black toner and EFc represents the average amount of heat of melting (mJ/mg) of the yellow toner, magenta toner, and cyan toner from 50° C. to 100° C. at the first temperature rising in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2012
    Publication date: November 15, 2012
    Inventors: Osamu UCHINOKURA, Satoshi Ogawa, Junichi Awamura, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Ito, Daisuke Inoue
  • Patent number: 8268526
    Abstract: The present invention relates to toner compositions containing: toner particles made of: binder resin; colorant; and a wax which is dispersed in the toner particles, where the toner composition satisfies relationship (2): B?394?400A? when 0.950<A??0.965 (2) where A? represents an average circularity of the toner composition, B represents a content of toner particles having a particle diameter not greater than 3 ?m expressed in % by number, and a concentration of the wax at a surface of the toner particles is larger than a concentration thereof in the center of the toner particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroto Higuchi, Fumihiro Sasaki, Shinichiro Yagi, Shigeru Emoto, Junichi Awamura, Naohito Shimota, Masami Tomita, Toshiki Nanya, Takahiro Honda, Maiko Kondo
  • Patent number: 8227164
    Abstract: A toner, including a colorant; a binder resin; a release agent; and a fixing supplemental component, wherein the toner has a storage elastic modulus G? (Pa) satisfying the following conditions: 5.0×104<G?<5.0×105 at 80° C. 1.0×104<G?<1.0×105 at 90° C. 5.0×103<G?<5.0×104 at 100° C. 1.0×103<G?<1.0×104 at 120° C. 1.0×103<G?<1.0×104 at 150° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Naohito Shimota, Hiroshi Yamashita, Satoshi Ogawa, Masana Shiba, Junichi Awamura, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Masaki Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8192911
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a toner including dispersing a binder resin, a coloring agent and a releasing agent in an organic solvent to obtain an oil phase; dispersing the oil phase in an aqueous medium with a shearing force to obtain a dispersion emulsion; wherein the shearing force is made by a screen or vessel that is situated around a rotor, the screen spinning in a direction opposite to the direction that the rotor spins. Toner produced. Method of using the toner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Awamura, Akinori Saitoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Masahide Yamada, Tomomi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8187785
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing the toner comprising dispersing at least one of a binder resin or a precursor thereof, a coloring agent and a releasing agent in an organic solvent to obtain an oil phase, dispersing the oil phase in an aqueous medium with a shearing force to obtain a dispersion emulsion, wherein the dispersion emulsion process has plural stages and the shear speed A of the emulsification process of stage n is faster than the shear speed B of the emulsification process of stage n+1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Awamura, Akinori Saitoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Tomomi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8178276
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a toner including granulating mother toner particles in an aqueous medium to obtain a slurry containing the mother toner particles and adjusting a size distribution of the mother toner particles by screening coarse mother toner particles from the slurry with a screen to obtain the toner containing mother toner particulates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Osamu Uchinokura, Akinori Saitoh, Junichi Awamura, Masahide Yamada, Hiroshi Yamada
  • Publication number: 20120064445
    Abstract: A toner which contains: toner base particles having Dv of 4.0-6.0 ?m; and two or more additives on surfaces of the toner base particles, where the additives contains Additives A and B, wherein the toner base particles are obtained by the method containing: dispersing, in an aqueous medium, an oil phase in which at least one of a crystalline polyester resin and a non-crystalline polyester resin is contained in an organic solvent, to prepare a dispersion liquid; and removing the organic solvent from the dispersion liquid, and wherein the Additive A has the largest average primary particle diameter in the additives and has CA of 5-10% where the CA is determined by the formula A, and the Additive B has the smallest average primary particle diameter in the additives and has CB of 45-100% where the CB is determined by the formula B.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Inventors: Satoshi KOJIMA, Syouko Satoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Ogawa, Junichi Awamura, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Ito, Daisuke Inoue, Mamoru Hozumi, Koshi Sato
  • Patent number: 8124308
    Abstract: Toner and a developer which are excellent in cleaning property and fixing property at low temperature, and capable of forming images with high quality are provided, along with a method for their production. A toner producing method involves dispersing and/or emulsifying an oil phase or a monomer phase containing a toner composition and/or a toner composition precursor in a water-based medium to granulate, wherein the toner has an average circularity of 0.925 to 0.970, and the toner composition and/or the toner composition precursor has a layered inorganic material in which at least a part of interlayer ions in the layered inorganic material has been exchanged with organic ions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company. Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Watanabe, Shigeru Emoto, Yohichiroh Watanabe, Masahide Yamada, Tsunemi Sugiyama, Masahiro Ohki, Akinori Saitoh, Ryota Inoue, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura
  • Patent number: 8114560
    Abstract: The present invention provides a toner containing at least a binder resin, a releasing agent, and a colorant, wherein the binder resin contains at least a polyester resin (A) having a softening point Tm (A) of 120° C. to 160° C., a polyester resin (B) having a softening point Tm (B) of 80° C. or more and less than 120° C. and a composite resin (C) containing a condensation polymerization monomer and an addition polymerization monomer, at least any one of the polyester resins (A) and (B) is a polyester resin prepared by condensation-polymerizing an alcohol component substantially composed of only aliphatic alcohol with a carboxylic acid component, and 65% or more of the alcohol component is 1,2-propanediol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinya Nakayama, Akihiro Kotsugai, Akiyoshi Sabu, Hiroshi Yamashita, Hiroshi Yamada, Junichi Awamura, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto
  • Publication number: 20110305986
    Abstract: A toner containing a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent, wherein the colorant contains a mixed crystal of a C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 185 and a C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 139, and wherein a mass ratio of the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 185 to the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 139 (mass of the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 185/mass of the C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 139) in the toner is 95/5 to 50/50.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Publication date: December 15, 2011
    Inventors: Satoshi OGAWA, Daisuke Inoue, Daisuke Ito, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura, Teruki Kusahara, Satoshi Kojima, Mamoru Hozumi, Shoko Sato
  • Publication number: 20110262856
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin which contains a crystalline polyester resin and a non-crystalline polyester resin, wherein the crystalline polyester resin has at least two diffraction peaks in a range of 20°<2?<25° as detected by X-ray diffraction measurement, and has a melting point which is 60° C. or higher but lower than 80° C., and wherein the diffraction peaks each have a half width which is less than 1.0°.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2011
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi SUGIMOTO, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Ogawa, Junichi Awamura, Satoshi Kojima, Daisuke Ito, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Inoue, Mamoru Hozumi, Shoko Sato
  • Patent number: 8026031
    Abstract: Toner and a developer which are excellent in cleaning property and fixing property at low temperature, and capable of forming images with high quality are provided. A toner prepared by dispersing and/or emulsifying an oil phase or a monomer phase comprising a toner composition and/or a toner composition precursor in a water-based medium to granulate, wherein the toner has an average circularity of 0.925 to 0.970, and the toner composition and/or the toner composition precursor has a layered inorganic material in which at least a part of interlayer ions in the layered inorganic material has been exchanged with organic ions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Watanabe, Shigeru Emoto, Yohichiroh Watanabe, Masahide Yamada, Tsunemi Sugiyama, Masahiro Ohki, Akinori Saitoh, Ryota Inoue, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura
  • Publication number: 20110223532
    Abstract: A toner, comprising a colorant, a crystalline polyester resin, and an amorphous polyester resin, in which the crystalline polyester resin satisfies the following relations: 60?(T2-cp)<80 (T2-cs2)?(T2-cp)<10 (T2-cp)?(T2-cs1)<10 wherein (T2-cp) (° C.) represents an endothermic peak temperature, (T2-cs1) (° C.) represents a first endothermic shoulder temperature, and (T2-cs2) (° C.) represents a second endothermic shoulder temperature, each determined from a second heating in a differential scanning calorimetry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2011
    Publication date: September 15, 2011
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi SUGIMOTO, Fumihiro Sasaki, Hiroshi Yamashita, Satoshi Ogawa, Junichi Awamura, Hyo Shu, Tomomi Suzuki, Teruki Kusahara, Ryota Inoue, Daisuke Inoue