Patents Examined by Christopher Rodee
  • Patent number: 8865384
    Abstract: An electrophotographic toner, including: a binder resin; a colorant; and an organically-modified layered inorganic mineral, wherein the binder resin contains 50% by mass or more of a crystalline resin relative to the binder resin, and the crystalline resin contains a resin having a sulfonic acid group, and wherein an amount of the sulfonic acid group is 0.1% by mass to 2.0% by mass relative to the resin having the sulfonic acid group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahide Yamada, Shinya Nakayama, Atsushi Yamamoto, Hideyuki Santo, Shingo Sakashita, Yukiko Nakajima, Suzuka Amemori, Akiyoshi Sabu
  • Patent number: 8859179
    Abstract: A developer, including a toner including a binder resin comprising a crystalline resin; and a colorant, and a resin carrier comprising a resin; a magnetic particulate material having a magnetic anisotropy, dispersed in the resin, and having a saturated magnetization of from 16 to 30 emu/g, a coercive force of from 15 to 40 kA/m and an average particle diameter not less than 15 ?m and less than 100 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Santo, Masahide Yamada, Kazumi Suzuki, Shinya Nakayama, Atsushi Yamamoto, Tatsuya Morita, Shingo Sakashita, Yukiko Nakajima, Keiji Makabe, Daiki Yamashita
  • Patent number: 8852841
    Abstract: A method for producing a toner for electrostatic image development containing at least a resin binder and a charge control agent, including step 1: melt-kneading components containing a resin binder and a charge control agent to provide a melt-kneaded product; and step 2: pulverizing the melt-kneaded product, and classifying a pulverized product, wherein the resin binder contains a polyester A obtained by polycondensing an alcohol component containing 1,2-propanediol and a carboxylic acid component containing a rosin compound and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid compound having 6 to 10 carbon atoms, wherein 1,2-propanediol is contained in the alcohol component of the polyester A in an amount of 85% by mol or more. The toner for electrostatic image development obtained by the method of the present invention can be suitably used in, for example, the development or the like of latent image formed in electrophotography, an electrostatic recording method, an electrostatic printing method, or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Kao Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Ashizawa, Shogo Watanabe, Takashi Kubo, Norihiro Hirai
  • Patent number: 8852836
    Abstract: A toner including: a base resin; and charge-controlling resin particles contained in the base resin, wherein the toner is in shape of particles, and the charge-controlling resin particles are present in a region of each toner particle which is 500 nm in depth from a surface of the toner particle and an average of amounts of the charge-controlling resin particles present in the regions of the toner particles is 20% by volume to 70% by volume, wherein an average of embedment rates of the charge-controlling resin particles in the toner particles is 90% or higher, where each embedment rate is an average of embedment rates of the charge-controlling resin particles in each toner particle, and wherein the charge-controlling resin particles have a charge amount of 60 ?C/m2 or more as measured by a blow-off method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Seki, Yoshitaka Sekiguchi, Ryota Inoue, Kazuoki Fuwa
  • Patent number: 8846289
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing toner including melting, mixing, and kneading a releasing agent and a coloring agent with at least part of a polyester binder resin, and suspending and granulating an oil phase comprising the binder resin, the coloring agent, and the releasing agent in an aqueous medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ogawa, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Naohito Shimota, Hiroshi Yamashita, Masana Shiba, Junichi Awamura
  • Patent number: 8846281
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member having a surface layer which contains a silicon-containing compound in an amount of less than 0.6% by mass based on the whole solid content in the surface layer, where the silicon-containing compound in the surface layer has a siloxane moiety in an amount of 0.01% by mass or more, based on the whole solid content in the surface layer, and its surface has specific depressions. Also disclosed are a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus which have the electrophotographic photosensitive member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Okuda, Hirotoshi Uesugi, Kazunori Noguchi, Tsutomu Nishida
  • Patent number: 8846279
    Abstract: The invention provides a laminate-type electrophotographic photoreceptor for use in a negative charge system, comprising a conductive support, and a photosensitive layer containing a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer, on the conductive support, wherein in addition to a fluorene compound and a diamine compound which are responsible for charge transport, a compound having a specific structure is used in combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
    Inventor: Akiteru Fujii
  • Patent number: 8841051
    Abstract: Provided is a full color image forming method wherein high color reproducibility especially on a blue system and a green system can be obtained and an excellent gradation property can be obtained in a full color image to be obtained. The full color image forming method for forming a full color image by using at least yellow toner, magenta toner, and two kinds of cyan toners (1, 2) is characterized in that a toner image formed by the cyan toner (1) alone has the value of the maximum color saturation (C*) of not less than 50 and the value of lightness (L*) in a color space represented by an L*a*b* colorimetric system of not less than 30 and not more than 52, and that a toner image formed by the cyan toner (2) alone has the value of the maximum color saturation (C*) of not less than 50 and the value of the lightness (L*) in the color space represented by the L*a*b* colorimetric system of not less than 58 and not more than 75.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Shiro Hirano, Naohiro Hirose, Kaori Soeda, Miyuki Murakami, Youhei Ohno
  • Patent number: 8841052
    Abstract: In order to provide an electrophotographic photosensitive member with which a ghost is suppressed even under a low temperature and low humidity environment, and a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus having the electrophotographic photosensitive member, the electrophotographic photosensitive member has a support, an undercoat layer formed on the support, and a photosensitive layer formed on the undercoat layer and comprising a charge generating material and a hole transporting material, wherein the undercoat layer comprises a particular amine compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kaname Watariguchi, Takeshi Murakami, Masataka Kawahara, Masato Tanaka, Akira Yoshida
  • Patent number: 8828633
    Abstract: To obtain a toner which has excellent charge rise and stability, tends to have a sharp charge distribution, has excellent pigment dispersion properties, exhibits no disarray in an image even during a high-speed copying operation, and can stably output high-resolution images. A toner comprising toner particle containing a binder resin, a colorant, resin PA, and resin PB, wherein the resin PA has unit A represented by Formula (1), the resin PB has unit B represented by Formula (2), a content “a” of the unit A in the toner particle is 2.00 ?mol/g or more, and a molar ratio b/a of the content “a” and a content “b” of the unit B in the toner particle is 0.10 or more and 10.00 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hitoshi Itabashi, Takashi Kenmoku, Harumi Takada
  • Patent number: 8828635
    Abstract: A toner including a resin particle (C) is provided. The resin particle (C) includes a resin particle (B) and a resin particle (A). The resin particle (B) includes a resin (b). The resin particle (A) or covering layer (P) includes a resin (a). The resin particle (A) or covering layer (P) is adhered to a surface of the resin particle (B). The resin (a) is a polyester resin. The resin (a) has a total acid value of 15 to 36 mgKOH/g. The resin particle (A) or covering layer (P) has a surface acid value of 10 to 27 mgKOH/g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Moriya, Shinya Nakayama, Atsushi Yamamoto, Hideyuki Santo, Akiyoshi Sabu, Yukiko Nakajima, Daiki Yamashita
  • Patent number: 8822121
    Abstract: A toner to develop an electrostatic charge image, a toner supply device employing the toner, an apparatus to form an image employing the toner, and a method of forming an image using the toner are provided. The toner includes at least a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent. By using the binder resin including a combination of a reduced molar weight binder resin, an increased molar weight binder resin, and the releasing agent having an effecdtive compatibility with the binder resin together, the toner has accurately-controlled dynamic viscoelastic properties represented by a loss tangent. The toner to develop an electrostatic charge image according to an embodiment has development stability, development lifetime, fixability, charging stability, gloss, an anti-offset property, and heat storage ability at predetermined levels or higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: SAMSUNG Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kyeong Pang, Tae-hoe Koo, Su-bum Park, Yo-da Shin, Seung-jun Lee, Hae-ree Joo, Jun-young Lee
  • Patent number: 8815484
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a toner having high dispersibility of an azo pigment in a binder resin and a good color tone, having suppressed image fogging and high transfer efficiency, and providing a stable image for a long time. The toner including toner base particles, each of which includes: at least a binder resin, a compound in which a specific bisazo skeleton unit bonds to a specific polymer resin unit, and an azo pigment as a colorant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Tanaka, Masashi Hirose, Takayuki Toyoda, Waka Hasegawa, Yasuaki Murai, Masashi Kawamura, Yuki Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 8815485
    Abstract: A compound that can improve azo pigment dispersibility in a non-water-soluble solvent. The compound is represented by formula (1): wherein R1 to R4 represent hydrogen or halogen; R5 to R9 represent hydrogen, COOR17 or CONR18R19, and at least one of R5 to R9 represents COOR17 or CONR18R19, where R17 to R19 represent hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbons; R10 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbons or a phenyl group; R11 to R15 represent a hydrogen, L1R20 or L2R21R22, and at least one of R11 to R15 represents L1R20 or L2R21R22, where L1 represents a divalent linking group, L2 represents a trivalent linking group, and R20 to R22 represent an alkyl group having 8 or more carbons or an alkenyl group having 8 or more carbons; and R16 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbons or a phenyl group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Tanaka, Masashi Kawamura, Yuki Hasegawa, Takayuki Toyoda, Yasuaki Murai, Masashi Hirose, Takeshi Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 8815479
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member comprises a charge-transporting layer which is a surface layer of the electrophotographic photosensitive member; wherein the charge-transporting layer has a matrix-domain structure having: a matrix comprising a component [?] and a component [?] (charge-transporting substances having specific structures), and a domain comprising a component [?](resin [?1], or resin [?1] and resin [?2]).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuhisa Shida, Atsushi Okuda, Kazunori Noguchi, Takashi Anezaki, Harunobu Ogaki, Shio Murai
  • Patent number: 8808953
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a conductive support, and an undercoat layer, a charge generation layer, and a charge transport layer that are provided in this order on the conductive support, wherein the undercoat layer includes at least metallic oxide particles, a reactive acceptor substance including an anthraquinone structure expressed by the following Formula 1, and a binder resin, the charge generation layer includes hydroxygallium phthalocyanine as a charge generation material, and a reflectance of incident light having a wavelength of 780 nm on a surface of the charge generation layer when the charge transport layer is removed is 17% or greater: wherein the anthraquinone structure expressed by Formula 1 is bonded to another structure at a position of *, and thus forms the reactive acceptor substance, and in Formula 1, n1 represents an integer of 1 to 7.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoya Sugiura, Shigeto Hashiba, Kazuhiro Koseki, Hirofumi Nakamura, Kenta Ide, Akihiro Nonaka, Kosuke Narita, Akihiro Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 8802341
    Abstract: A black toner composition is disclosed. The composition includes toner particles prepared by a chemical process of manufacture including carbon black pigment, a first addition polymer comprising carboxylic acid groups along the polymer backbone, and a thermoplastic second polymer binder distinct from the first addition polymer. In the composition, the first polymer has an Acid Value of from 30 to 220 and is present at a weight ratio of greater than 1:2 relative to the amount of carbon, and at a relatively lower weight percent than the second polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Dinesh Tyagi, Louise Granica
  • Patent number: 8802337
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a support; an undercoat layer which is provided on the support and contains at least a binder resin, metal oxide particles, and an electron-accepting compound having an anthraquinone structure, in which a content of the electron-accepting compound is from 0.5% by weight to 1.5% by weight with respect to the metal oxide particles and a contact angle of the metal oxide particles with respect to water is from 7° to 12°; and a photosensitive layer which is provided on the undercoat layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Kawasaki, Shigeto Hashiba, Hirofumi Nakamura, Hidemi Nukada, Satoya Sugiura
  • Patent number: 8795938
    Abstract: To provide a toner, which contains: toner base particles each containing a binder resin and a colorant; and an external additive containing inorganic particles and fatty acid metal salt particles, wherein the inorganic particles contain at least hydrophobic silica particles, wherein a liberation ratio Ya of the hydrophobic silica particles from the toner is 1% by mass to 20% by mass, and wherein a libration ratio Yb of the fatty acid metal salt particles from the toner is 30% by mass to 90% by mass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Uchinokura, Tomoyuki Satoh, Takahiro Honda, Daisuke Inoue, Mamoru Hozumi
  • Patent number: 8785099
    Abstract: A toner including toner particles including a binder resin containing at least one polyester resin comprising an inorganic tin (II) compound and an external additive including a particulate inorganic material having a volume average particle diameter greater than 70 nm and less than 300 nm. The binder resin preferably includes a polyester resin having a weight average molecular weight of from 5,000 to 50,000 and another resin having a weight average molecular weight of from 200,000 to 400,000. A developer including the toner; and a developing device, an image forming apparatus and a process cartridge, which form toner images using the toner are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Hyo Shu, Mitsuo Aoki, Minoru Masuda, Kumi Hasegawa