Patents by Inventor Teruki Kusahara

Teruki Kusahara 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).

  • Publication number: 20140322643
    Abstract: A toner including a non-crystalline polyester resin and a crystalline polyester resin, wherein a tetrahydrofuran soluble component of the non-crystalline polyester resin has a weight-average molecular weight of 3,000 to 8,000 measured by gel permeation chromatography, and wherein the toner has a glass transition temperature A before an extraction process of the toner with methanol and a glass transition temperature B after the extraction process of the toner with methanol, and a difference between A and B (B?A) is 2.0° C. or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2012
    Publication date: October 30, 2014
    Inventors: Masaki Watanabe, Satoshi Ogawa, Teruki Kusahara, Ryuta Yoshida
  • Patent number: 8778588
    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=|[(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: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: 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: 20140140731
    Abstract: A toner including: a binder resin; a releasing agent; and a colorant, wherein the binder resin contains a crystalline polyester resin and a non-crystalline polyester resin, wherein the releasing agent has an endothermic peak temperature of 60° C. to 80° C. at the second temperature rising in differential scanning calorimetry, and wherein the releasing agent is an ester wax which satisfies the following expressions (1) and (2): 1.1 Pa·s??*a?2.0 Pa·s . . . Expression (1) 0.001??*b/?*a?1.00 . . . Expression (2) where in Expressions (1) and (2), ?*a denotes a complex viscosity (Pa·s) determined by measuring a dynamic viscoelasticity of the releasing agent at a measurement frequency of 6.28 rad/s, and ?*b denotes a complex viscosity (Pa·s) determined by measuring a dynamic viscoelasticity of the releasing agent at a measurement frequency of 62.8 rad/s.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2012
    Publication date: May 22, 2014
    Inventors: Mamoru Hozumi, Junichi Awamura, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Ito, Satoshi Ogawa, Takahiro Honda, Kiwako Hirohara, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Kojima, Syouko Satoh, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Masaki Watanabe, Masaaki Oka, Yasuaki Ohta
  • Patent number: 8652719
    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: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Ogawa, Junichi Awamura, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Ito, Daisuke Inoue
  • Patent number: 8546053
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing a toner, the method including: preparing a wax dispersion liquid by cooling a wax solution, in which a wax is heated and dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent, in a container so that a standard deviation ? of a temperature distribution between a center portion of the container and an inner wall of the container is 0.5 or less and the cooling rate is 2.0° C./min or more, to precipitate wax particles in the wax solution; forming toner base precursor particles by adding an aqueous phase containing resin fine particles into an oil phase containing at least the wax dispersion liquid, a colorant and a binder resin and mixing the oil phase and the aqueous phase with each other; and preparing toner base particles by removing the solvent from the toner base precursor particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Teruki Kusahara, Junichi Awamura, Tomomi Suzuki, Toshihiko Karato
  • Publication number: 20130244156
    Abstract: A toner for developing an electrostatic image, including: toner base particles each including a binder resin and a releasing agent; and inorganic fine particles, wherein the toner includes the inorganic fine particles as an external additive on a surface of the toner base particle, wherein the toner base particles have a BET specific surface area of 2.5 m2/g to 5.0 m2/g, and wherein the inorganic fine particles comprise inorganic fine particles (A) which are each a secondary particle where a plurality of primary particles are coalesced together.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Inventors: Satoshi KOJIMA, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Syouko Satoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura, Satoshi Ogawa, Takahiro Honda, Daisuke Ito, Teruki Kusahara, Masaki Watanabe, Daisuke Inoue, Kiwako Hirohara
  • Publication number: 20130244158
    Abstract: A toner set, including: a transparent toner including a binder resin a, a releasing agent a and no colorant; and one or more color toners, each including a binder resin b, a colorant b and a releasing agent b, wherein the binder resin a includes a non-crystalline resin ? and a crystalline resin ?, the binder resin b includes a non-crystalline resin ? and a crystalline resin ?, the releasing agent a has an average particle diameter as a long diameter of 0.2 ?m to 2.0 ?m, and there is a relationship of 1<A/B<1.5, where A is an area of the releasing agent a in a transparent toner cross-section from a surface thereof to a ?-depth of a volume-average particle diameter, and B is an area of the releasing agent b in a color-toner cross-section from a surface thereof to a ?-depth of a volume-average particle diameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Inventors: Junichi AWAMURA, Teruki Kusahara, Satoshi Ogawa, Daisuke Ito, Daisuke Inoue, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Kojima, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Mamoru Hozumi, Syouko Satoh
  • Publication number: 20130243488
    Abstract: A toner including: toner base particles; and external additive, the toner base particles each comprising binder resin and colorant, wherein the external additive comprises coalesced particles, the coalesced particles are each a non-spherical secondary particle in which primary particles are coalesced together, and an index of a particle size distribution of the coalesced particles is expressed by Formula (1): Db 50 Db 10 ? 1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2013
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Inventors: Satoshi KOJIMA, Tsuneyasu NAGATOMO, Syouko SATOH, Osamu UCHINOKURA, Junichi AWAMURA, Satoshi OGAWA, Takahiro HONDA, Daisuke ITO, Teruki KUSAHARA, Masaki WATANABE, Daisuke INOUE
  • Publication number: 20130224648
    Abstract: Electrostatic image developing toner particles including: a crystalline polyester resin; a non-crystalline polyester resin; a releasing agent; and a colorant, wherein the electrostatic image developing toner particles have a glass transition temperature of 40° C. to 60° C. where the glass transition temperature is measured with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and wherein the electrostatic image developing toner particles have an adhesive force between the toner particles of 1.4 mN to 2.2 mN where the adhesive force between the toner particles is measured after the electrostatic image developing toner particles have been stored at 50° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2011
    Publication date: August 29, 2013
    Inventors: Takahiro Honda, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura, Satoshi Ogawa, Satoshi Kojima, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Inoue, Daisuke Ito, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Masaki Watanabe
  • 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: 20130195526
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including: image bearing member; latent image forming unit; developing unit; transfer unit; fixing unit, wherein toner in the developing unit contains amorphous polymer, crystalline resin and releasing agent, when the toner is measured for G? at 40° C. to 210° C. with rheometer at 1 Hz and 1 deg, G?(100) is ?20,000 and G?(150) is ?500 Pa, and straight line drawn by connecting points of the G?(100) and G?(110) on curve of the G? has gradient of ?0.035, the gradient being “a” expressed by: a=|log10 G?(100)?log10 G?(110)|/10, and the fixing unit includes: heating member containing flexible endless belt; heat source fixed within the flexible endless belt; and press member in contact with the belt to form nip portion, and the fixing unit is configured to heat/press the medium passing through the nip portion to fix the image on the medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2013
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Inventors: Teruki KUSAHARA, Tomoyuki SATOH, Satoshi OGAWA, Kiwako HIROHARA
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20110129773
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin comprising a modified polyester having an ester bond and a chemical bond other than the ester bond, and a crystalline polyester; and a release agent comprising a microcrystalline wax comprising a hydrocarbon having 20 to 80 carbon atoms which comprises 55 to 70% by weight of a linear hydrocarbon. The microcrystalline wax has an acid value of from 0.1 to 20 mgKOH/g and a melting point of from 65 to 90° C. The melting point is a temperature at which a local maximum endothermic peak is observed in a differential thermal curve measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The release agent is dispersed in the toner with a dispersion diameter of from 0.06 to 1.50 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2010
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Inventors: Hyo SHU, Fumihiro Sasaki, Hiroshi Yamashita, Masaki Watanabe, Junichi Awamura, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Teruki Kusahara, Satoshi Ogawa, Ryota Inoue, Daisuke Inoue