Patents Examined by Michael E. Grendzynski
  • Patent number: 6221466
    Abstract: A substrate with an organic undercoat as bonding layer for a printing medium to be deposited subsequently on the substrate in a printing process is such that the organic undercoat contains fine grained constituents of organic and/or inorganic substances, whereby the surface of the inorganic constituents is treated or provided with a coating of organic substances. Suitable inorganic constituents are e.g. highly dispersed silica, the surface of which is treated with a resin or a polymer. Suitable compositions for the organic undercoat layer on the substrate are organic coatings based on many commercially available organic coating materials with an addition of e.g. 0.3 to 20 wt. % silica. By adding highly dispersed silica to the undercoat the adhesion between the undercoat and the printing medium can be greatly improved, also in the case of laser printing methods with small thermal energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Alusuisse Technology & Management Ltd.
    Inventors: Erwin Pasbrig, Dietrich Bubeck
  • Patent number: 6210808
    Abstract: Provided is an ink jet recording medium comprised of an ink jet receptive layer on a substrate. The ink receptive layer is comprised of a water soluble polymer and a radiation cured, water insoluble monomer and/or prepolymer. When both the water soluble polymer and the water insoluble monomer and/or prepolymer are cured, a coating is created which has a cage structure with the radiation cured, water insoluble monomer and/or prepolymer existing as a micelle within a water soluble polymer matrix. The resulting ink jet medium exhibits excellent water resistance and extremely high gloss.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Rexam Graphics Inc.
    Inventor: Andrew J. Naisby
  • Patent number: 6197144
    Abstract: Thermoplastic articles such as splash guards, in particular polyethylene splash guards, are decorated using a heat-activated decorative which includes a layer of a compatible thermoplastic adhesive which bonds an intermediate support sheet to the surface of the article. An indicia layer is then bonded to the support sheet. The support sheet is either a nonwoven web, a metal film, or a metalized cloth. The indicia layer can be an outer reflective or polymeric film bonded to the polyester nonwoven web using a compatible adhesive such as a linear alkyl polyester. If the support sheet is a metal film or metalized cloth, it can provide the indicia without a separate layer. However, a clear protective film may be required. This material remains tightly adhered to the surface of the article, even splash guards subjected to road conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2001
    Inventor: John Mahn, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6183844
    Abstract: A printing medium suitable for inkjet printing comprises a substrate having at least two water-absorptive coatings applied sequentially. Each of the two water-absorptive coatings comprises hydrophilic organic polymer and small discrete nonfilm-forming particles. The hydrophilic organic polymer of the interior water-absorptive coating adjacent the exterior water-absorptive coating contains a greater quantity of nitrogen-containing substance than the hydrophilic organic polymer of the exterior water-absorptive coating. “Nitrogen-containing substance” is defined as being independently selected from the group consisting of quaternary ammonium mer units, poly(N-vinylpyrrolidinone), copolymer of N-vinylpyrrolidinone and &agr;-(meth)acrylyloxy-&ohgr;-(hydroxy, methoxy, or ethoxy)-poly(ethylene oxide), and two or more thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2001
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Huawen Li
  • Patent number: 6180256
    Abstract: A heat shrinkable ink jet recording medium is provided for ink jet printing applications. In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides a polystyrene base substrate coated with an ink jet ink receptive coating layer that contains a flexible resin and an adhesion promoter. A method for preparing an article with the medium is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2001
    Assignee: Arkwright Incorporated
    Inventor: Steven J. Sargeant
  • Patent number: 6180165
    Abstract: A substantially light-insensitive thermographic recording material substantially exclusive of cationic surfactants in which at least one non-cationic surfactant is present, the thermographic recording material comprising a support and a thermosensitive element containing a substantially light-insensitive organic silver salt, a reducing agent therefor in thermal working relationship therewith and a binder, wherein all the non-cationic surfactants present in the thermographic recording material together have a non-fluoro-halide ion concentration of 1500 ppm or less; and a process for the production thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2001
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert
    Inventors: Carlo Uyttendaele, Jan Gilleir, Ingrid Geuens, Ivan Hoogmartens
  • Patent number: 6177176
    Abstract: An information recording medium comprising a stack of layers includes a recording layer interposed between two shielding layers, the shielding layers being opaque to radiation within a predetermined wavelength band. The recording layer is adjacent to a layer which is transparent to radiation within the predetermined wavelength band, and is readable by radiation within the predetermined wavelength band passing into the layer through a free edge of the layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2001
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroshi Tanabe, Mizuho Hiraoka, Kouichi Yoshida
  • Patent number: 6171702
    Abstract: A coated xerographic substrate comprised of a substrate with four coating layers, two coating layers on the front side of the substrate and two coating layers on the reverse side of the substrate, wherein said front side coatings are comprised of a antistatic hydrophilic layer in contact with the substrate comprised of a blend of (1) a hydrophilic binder, (2) a water soluble filler, (3) a water insoluble filler, (4) an antistatic cationic component (5) an optional filler dispersant, and (6) an optional biocide, and the second coating situated on top of the first coating comprised of (1) an ester binder,(2) a toner wetting agent, (3) a lightfast UV absorber, (4) a lightfast antioxidant/antiozonant compound, and (5) a filler; and wherein said two coatings in contact with the reverse side of the substrate are comprised of a third hydrophilic antistatic coating comprised of (1) a binder polymer, (2) a water soluble filler, (3) a water insoluble filler, (4) an antistatic agent, (5) a filler dispersant and (6) an o
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2001
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Shadi L. Malhotra, Kirit N. Naik
  • Patent number: 6156442
    Abstract: Thermal transfer articles of the invention comprising a carrier, optionally a release layer, a color layer releaseably adhered thereto, and optionally an adherence layer on the bottom side of the color layer. Also methods for thermal transfer using such articles and signage made by such methods. The transfer articles of the invention 1) exhibit thermoplastic, low cohesive properties during transfer such that good image resolution and transfer is achieved and 2) are thermally crosslinked such that a durable image is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2000
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventor: Nancy H. Phillips
  • Patent number: 6153305
    Abstract: Disclosed is a recording sheet for ink-jet recording comprising a support, and provided on one side of the support, an ink receiving layer, wherein the layer swelling amount of the ink receiving layer is 20 to 500 cc/m.sup.2, and the layer solubility time of the ink receiving layer is 10 minutes or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2000
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Uemura, Koji Takemura, Ichiro Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 6146741
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is an information recording medium comprising a card substrate and a print-receiving layer provided on the surface thereof, wherein the print-receiving layer is provided with a forgery-preventing layer at a part of the surface thereof, and the forgery-preventing layer is allowed to print on the surface thereof and is embedded in the print-receiving layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Ogawa, Kazumi Nagano
  • Patent number: 6143419
    Abstract: An ink-jet recording sheet is provided with at least one ink-receiving layer on at least one side of a base material sheet. A resin component which constitutes the ink-receiving layer comprises a hydrophilic resin containing tertiary amino groups in a molecule thereof or a hydrophilic resin containing tertiary amino groups and polysiloxane segments in a molecule thereof. A coating formulation suitable in use for the production of the ink-jet recording sheet is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2000
    Assignees: Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd., Ukima Colour & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuyuki Hanada, Motoaki Umezu, Kenichi Takahashi, Katsutoshi Torii, Takeshi Kawaguchi, Katsuyuki Fukui
  • Patent number: 6139947
    Abstract: A thermal transfer recording medium for forming printed images with high metallic luster is disclosed which comprises a foundation, and provided on one side of the foundation in order from the foundation side, at least a release layer, an anchor layer for metal deposition, a metal deposition layer and an adhesive layer, the anchor layer containing 0.1 to 3% by weight of particles having an average particle size more than the thickness of the anchor layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2000
    Assignee: Fujicopian Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuuichi Miyakusa, Jun Sogabe
  • Patent number: 6132879
    Abstract: Disclosed is a recording medium having a surface layer containing a compound having a layer structure on the recording medium, wherein exchangeable anions are present between layers of the compound and at least a part of said exchangeable anions are monovalent anions. The recording medium has excellent ink absorption property, fixing property of coloring matters and clearness, and is capable of forming an image of excellent sharpness and water resistance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2000
    Assignee: Showa Denko K.K.
    Inventors: Kenji Tamura, Hideki Hayashida, Hiroyuki Takahashi, Teruo Hosokawa
  • Patent number: 6132873
    Abstract: Multilayer interference pigments consisting of a transparent carrier material coated with alternating layers of metal oxides of low and high refractive index, the layers of the metal oxides of low refractive index being optically inactive.The thickness of the metal oxide layers of high refractive index is an integral multiple of the optical thickness which is necessary for the desired interference color.The layer thickness of metal oxide layers of low refractive index is from 1 to 20 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2000
    Assignee: Merck Patent Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung
    Inventors: Johann Dietz, Manfred Parusel, Matthias Schilling, Klaus Ambrosius
  • Patent number: 6117563
    Abstract: The object is to provide a moistureproof paper which is excellent in light-screening, moisture-proof, waterproof and heat-sealing properties and regeneration property at the time of reuse as a used paper, and in order to attain the object, a moisture-proof layer (3) of maceration, regeneration and heat-sealing properties is provided on the surface of a coated base (1) having a light-screening layer (2) of a hue of from 25 to 70 in terms of the luminosity index L* to obtain a moisture-proof paper having a light-screening and regeneration properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignees: Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd., Toyo Ink Manufacturing Co., Ltd., San-Mic Chiyoda Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mituyuki Watanabe, Akiko Doujo, Ryoji Ito, Tsutomu Fujigamori, Kiyotaka Kido, Yuji Otake
  • Patent number: 6117552
    Abstract: An ink-jet recording sheet is provided with at least one ink-receiving layer on at least one side of a base material sheet. A resin component which constitutes the ink-receiving layer comprises a hydrophilic resin containing hydrolyzable silyl groups in a molecule thereof, a hydrophilic resin containing hydrolyzable silyl groups and tertiary amino groups in a molecule thereof, or a hydrophilic resin containing hydrolyzable silyl groups, tertiary amino groups and polysiloxane segments in a molecule thereof. A coating formulation suitable in use for the production of the ink-jet recording sheet is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignees: Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd., Ukima Colour & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Kazuyuki Hanada, Motoaki Umezu, Kenichi Takahashi, Katsutoshi Torii, Takeshi Kawaguchi, Katsuyuki Fukui
  • Patent number: 6110595
    Abstract: Disclosed is a novel anti-reflective film used for reducing the adverse influences of stray light within an optical instrument such as photographic cameras by attaching onto the inner walls of the instrument. The anti-reflective film consists of a substrate film of a synthetic resin and an anti-reflective coating layer formed on one surface of the substrate film by coating with a coating composition comprising (a) a synthetic resin as a binder to form the matrix phase of the coating layer, (b) particles of a synthetic resin having an average particle diameter in the range from 15 to 50 .mu.m dispersed in the matrix phase, and (c) particles of carbon having an average particle diameter not exceeding 2 .mu.m dispersed in the matrix phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2000
    Assignee: Somar Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Suzuki, Takashi Sato, Masaharu Nishimoto, Shinichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6110579
    Abstract: A recording medium for use in an information processing apparatus applying the STM technique, the recording medium is designed to have a surface which is made of a crystal having a spiral structure. The spiral structure is constituted by a step difference of a size not more than a diameter of an atom constituting the crystal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2000
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsutomu Ikeda, Takehiko Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 6107208
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of etching silicon nitride disposed over a copper containing layer by etching at least a portion of the silicon nitride using a nitride etch gas mixture comprising from about 5 sccm to about 15 sccm of CHF.sub.3, about 5 sccm to about 15 sccm of nitrogen and about 80 sccm to about 120 sccm of a carrier gas. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of processing a semiconductor substrate comprising silicon nitride disposed over a copper containing layer, involving etching at least a portion of the silicon nitride using a nitride etch gas mixture comprising CHF.sub.3, nitrogen and Ar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Jerry Cheng, Fei Wang