Patents by Inventor Keiji MAKABE

Keiji MAKABE 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: 20220326632
    Abstract: [Object] An object of the invention is to provide a toner that can both achieve a higher level of low temperature fixability and suppression of the toner scattering. [Means of Achieving the Object] The disclosure is to provide a toner, including base-particles, and an external-additive, wherein a glass-transition temperature obtained from a DSC-curve at a second-warming of a THF-insoluble component is ?50° C. or higher and 10° C. or lower, wherein an average circularity of the toner is 0.975 or more and 0.985 or lower, wherein the toner satisfies the following formula: 1.5?Bt?0.025?Ct?3.0, wherein the Bt [m2/g] is a BET-specific-surface area of the toner-particles, and the Ct [%] is a coverage by the external-additive, and, at least a portion of a surface of the external-additive is coated with either an oxide of a metallic element, a hydroxide of the metallic element, or both.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiji MAKABE, Akira Tanaka, Hidekazu Kakinuma, Tsukiko Takahashi
  • 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: 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: 11054757
    Abstract: A toner including toner base particles each including a binder resin and a colorant, and external additive, wherein the toner satisfies conditions (a), (b), and (c) below: (a) storage elastic modulus G?(50) of the toner at 50° C. and storage elastic modulus G?(90) of the toner at 90° C. satisfy Formula (1); G?(50)/G?(90)?6.0×102??Formula (1) (b) a BET specific surface area Bt(m2/g) of the toner and a coverage Ct (%) of the toner base particles covered with the external additive satisfy Formula (2); and Bt?0.03×Ct?1.60??Formula (2) (c) the external additive includes at least cohered particles, the cohered particles are non-spherical secondary particles each formed through cohesion of primary particles, and a number average secondary particle diameter of the cohered particles is 130 nm or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yohichi Kitagawa, Keiji Makabe, Yuka Mizoguchi, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Shinya Nakayama
  • Publication number: 20200301308
    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: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Inventors: Keiji MAKABE, Tsuneyasu NAGATOMO, Kohsuke SATOH, Daichi HISAKUNI, Kousuke SUZUKI, Shintaro AKIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20200272066
    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: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Kohsuke Satoh, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Keiji Makabe, Daichi Hisakuni
  • Publication number: 20200103775
    Abstract: A toner including toner base particles each including a binder resin and a colorant, and external additive, wherein the toner satisfies conditions (a), (b), and (c) below: (a) storage elastic modulus G?(50) of the toner at 50° C. and storage elastic modulus G?(90) of the toner at 90° C. satisfy Formula (1); G?(50)/G?(90)?6.0×102??Formula (1) (b) a BET specific surface area Bt(m2/g) of the toner and a coverage Ct (%) of the toner base particles covered with the external additive satisfy Formula (2); and Bt?0.03×Ct?1.60??Formula (2) (c) the external additive includes at least cohered particles, the cohered particles are non-spherical secondary particles each formed through cohesion of primary particles, and a number average secondary particle diameter of the cohered particles is 130 nm or greater.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Publication date: April 2, 2020
    Inventors: Yohichi Kitagawa, Keiji Makabe, Yuka Mizoguchi, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Shinya Nakayama
  • Patent number: 10295919
    Abstract: A toner is provided. The toner includes toner particles each including a mother particle and external additive particles covering the mother particle. In a SEM image of the toner, toner particles having a ratio Sd/St of from 5% to 50% are present at a frequency of 15% or more, where Sd representing an area of a largest recessed portion D of each toner particle and St representing whole area of the toner particle, Sd and St determined from the SEM image magnified and binarized to discriminate recessed portions and projected portions of the toner particle from each other. An external additive coverage rate Ca at the largest recessed portion D is from 30% to 100%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiji Makabe, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Kohsuke Satoh, Kenji Yoneda
  • Publication number: 20180181014
    Abstract: A toner is provided. The toner includes toner particles each including a mother particle and external additive particles covering the mother particle. In a SEM image of the toner, toner particles having a ratio Sd/St of from 5% to 50% are present at a frequency of 15% or more, where Sd representing an area of a largest recessed portion D of each toner particle and St representing whole area of the toner particle, Sd and St determined from the SEM image magnified and binarized to discriminate recessed portions and projected portions of the toner particle from each other. An external additive coverage rate Ca at the largest recessed portion D is from 30% to 100%.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2017
    Publication date: June 28, 2018
    Inventors: Keiji MAKABE, Tsuneyasu NAGATOMO, Kohsuke SATOH, Kenji YONEDA
  • Patent number: 9851649
    Abstract: A toner includes a binder resin including a copolymer resin containing structural units derived from crystalline and non-crystalline resins, respectively. Spin-spin relaxation time (t50) of the toner at 50° C. measured by pulse NMR is ?0.05 msec., spin-spin relaxation time (t130) at 130° C. when warmed from 50° C. to 130° C. is >15 msec., and spin-spin relaxation time (t?70) at 70° C. when cooled from 130° C. to 70° C. is ?1.00 msec. A binarized image obtained by binarizing a phase image of the toner observed by a tapping mode AFM based on intermediate value between maximum and minimum phase difference values in the phase image includes first phase difference images constituted by large phase-difference portions and a second phase difference image constituted by a small phase-difference portion. The first phase difference images are dispersed in the second phase difference image. The dispersion diameter of the first phase difference images is 150 nm or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiji Makabe, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Akinori Saito, Suzuka Amemori, Toyoshi Sawada, Hiroshi Yamashita, Shinya Nakayama, Atsushi Yamamoto, Daisuke Asahina, Satoyuki Sekiguchi
  • Patent number: 9804516
    Abstract: A toner includes a base particle; and an external additive covering the base particle. The toner includes a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-insoluble component having a glass transition temperature determined from a DSC curve when heated for the second time of from ?50° C. to 10° C. and an average circularity not greater than 0.98, and satisfies the following relation: Bt?0.025×Ct?1.80 wherein Bt represents a BET specific surface area [m2/g]; and Ct represents a coverage [%] of the external additive covering the base particle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiji Makabe, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Kohsuke Satoh, Junichi Watanabe, Kenji Yoneda, Daichi Hisakuni
  • Patent number: 9791794
    Abstract: A toner includes a base particle comprising a crystalline polyester resin; and an external additive which is a group of silica particles having a number-average particle diameter of from 0.01 ?m to 0.11 ?m on the surface of the toner. A number ratio of the silica particles having a circularity not less than 0.8 is 20% or more in the total number of the silica particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Watanabe, Kenji Yoneda, Kohsuke Satoh, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Keiji Makabe, Daichi Hisakuni
  • Patent number: 9594322
    Abstract: A toner is provided. The toner includes a crosslinked polyester resin, and a block copolymer. The crosslinked polyester resin includes a diol component, which includes an aliphatic diol component having 3 to 10 carbon atoms in an amount of 50% by mole, and a crosslinked component, which is at least one of a crosslinked component of an aliphatic alcohol having three or more valences and a crosslinked component of an aliphatic acid having three or more valences, and the block copolymer includes a crystalline segment (a) and a non-crystalline segment (b). The toner has a first glass transition temperature (Tg1st) of from 20° C. to 50° C., which is determined by subjecting the toner to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and measuring a glass transition temperature in a first temperature rising process in the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Suzuka Amemori, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, Akinori Saito, Toyoshi Sawada, Keiji Makabe
  • Publication number: 20160334722
    Abstract: A toner includes a base particle; and an external additive covering the base particle. The toner includes a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-insoluble component having a glass transition temperature determined from a DSC curve when heated for the second time of from ?50° C. to 10° C. and an average circularity not greater than 0.98, and satisfies the following relation: Bt?0.025×Ct?1.80 wherein Bt represents a BET specific surface area [m2/g]; and Ct represents a coverage [%] of the external additive covering the base particle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Publication date: November 17, 2016
    Inventors: Keiji MAKABE, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Kohsuke Satoh, Junichi Watanabe, Kenji Yoneda, Daichi Hisakuni
  • Publication number: 20160266507
    Abstract: A toner includes a base particle comprising a crystalline polyester resin; and an external additive which is a group of silica particles having a number-average particle diameter of from 0.01 ?m to 0.11 ?m on the surface of the toner. A number ratio of the silica particles having a circularity not less than 0.8 is 20% or more in the total number of the silica particles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2016
    Publication date: September 15, 2016
    Inventors: Junichi WATANABE, Kenji Yoneda, Kohsuke Satoh, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Keiji Makabe, Daichi Hisakuni
  • Publication number: 20160091812
    Abstract: A toner includes a binder resin including a copolymer resin containing structural units derived from crystalline and non-crystalline resins, respectively. Spin-spin relaxation time (t50) of the toner at 50° C. measured by pulse NMR is ?0.05 msec., spin-spin relaxation time (t130) at 130° C. when warmed from 50° C. to 130° C. is >15 msec., and spin-spin relaxation time (t?70) at 70° C. when cooled from 130° C. to 70° C. is ?1.00 msec. A binarized image obtained by binarizing a phase image of the toner observed by a tapping mode AFM based on intermediate value between maximum and minimum phase difference values in the phase image includes first phase difference images constituted by large phase-difference portions and a second phase difference image constituted by a small phase-difference portion. The first phase difference images are dispersed in the second phase difference image. The dispersion diameter of the first phase difference images is 150 nm or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2013
    Publication date: March 31, 2016
    Inventors: Keiji MAKABE, Tsuyoshi SUGIMOTO, Akinori SAITO, Suzuka AMEMORI, Toyoshi SAWADA, Hiroshi YAMASHITA, Shinya NAKAYAMA, Atsushi YAMAMOTO, Daisuke ASAHINA, Satoyuki SEKIGUCHI
  • Patent number: 9176406
    Abstract: Toner contains a binder resin containing a crystalline resin having a urethane and/or urea bonding; and a colorant, wherein in a diffraction spectrum of the toner as measured by an X-ray diffraction instrument, a ratio {C/(C+A)} of an integral intensity C of the spectrum derived from the crystalline structure to an integral intensity A of the spectrum derived from the non-crystalline structure is 0.12 or greater, wherein the toner satisfies the following relation 1: T1?T2?30° C. (Relation 1), where T1 represents the maximum endothermic peak in the first temperature rising from 0° C. to 100° C. at the temperature rising rate of 10° C./min and T2 represents the maximum exothermic peak in the first temperature falling from 100° C. to 0° C. at the temperature falling rate of 10° C./min as T1 and T2 are measured by diffraction scanning calorimetry (DSC).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoyuki Sekiguchi, Hiroshi Yamashita, Minoru Masuda, Susumu Chiba, Tatsuya Morita, Atsushi Yamamoto, Shinya Nakayama, Masahide Yamada, Kohsuke Nagata, Keiji Makabe, Toyoshi Sawada
  • Patent number: 9141013
    Abstract: An electrophotographic toner including: a binder resin, wherein the binder resin has one glass transition temperature Tg and the glass transition temperature Tg of the binder resin is within 25° C. to 65° C. as measured in second heating with a differential scanning calorimeter at a heating rate of 5° C./min, and wherein a phase image of the binder resin obtained with an atomic force microscope (AFM) of tapping mode contains first phase difference regions and a second phase difference region such that the first phase difference regions are dispersed in the second phase difference region, where the first phase difference regions correspond to greater phase difference regions and the second phase difference region corresponds to a smaller phase difference region when an intermediate value between a maximum value and a minimum value of the phase differences is used as a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Moriya, Masahide Yamada, Taichi Nemoto, Yukiko Nakajima, Yoshitaka Yamauchi, Keiji Makabe, Daiki Yamashita, Suzuka Amemori, Akiyoshi Sabu
  • Patent number: 9128397
    Abstract: A resin for use in toner is provided. The resin comprises an oligomer segment and a soft segment. The oligomer segment comprises a polyhydroxycarboxylic skeleton and an aromatic diol skeleton.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukiko Nakajima, Masahide Yamada, Taichi Nemoto, Yoshihiro Moriya, Yoshitaka Yamauchi, Keiji Makabe, Daiki Yamashita, Akiyoshi Sabu
  • Patent number: 9127118
    Abstract: A resin for toner contains a polyhydroxycarboxylic acid skeleton and a rigid skeleton.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Santo, Shinya Nakayama, Atsushi Yamamoto, Yoshihiro Moriya, Akiyoshi Sabu, Daisuke Asahina, Yoshitaka Yamauchi, Taichi Nemoto, Yukiko Nakajima, Daiki Yamashita, Masahide Yamada, Keiji Makabe