Patents by Inventor Kouji Masaki

Kouji Masaki 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: 9623705
    Abstract: The invention provides a method for producing a modified conjugated diene (co)polymer, the method including comprising: a modification reaction step including causing an organic silane compound to react with a conjugated diene (co)polymer having an active site at the active site, the organic silane compound having a characteristic group for forming a silanol group through hydrolysis and, in the vicinity of the characteristic group, (i) a functional group which binds the organic silane compound to the conjugated diene (co)polymer via addition to or substitution at the active site and which promotes reaction between the silanol group and a reinforcing filler after the addition or substitution reaction, or (ii) a functional group which promotes reaction between the silanol group and a reinforcing filler, and a hydrolyzation step performed after the modification reaction step; a modified conjugated diene (co)polymer having, at a molecular end of the conjugated diene (co)polymer, a silanol group, and a functional
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ken Tanaka, Noriko Mori, Yuki Itoh, Yoichi Ozawa, Ryuji Nakagawa, Junko Matsushita, Shigeaki Matsuo, Kouji Masaki, Fumihiro Shiraishi, Fuminori Oota
  • Patent number: 9056925
    Abstract: A process for producing a modified conjugated diene based polymer includes a step (a) of reacting a silicon compound with a conjugated diene based polymer having an active end so that the reaction takes place at the active end, the silicon compound having a protected primary amino group in the molecule thereof and a silicon atom to which a hydrocarbyloxy group and a reactive group are bonded, to thereby modify the active end, and a step (b) of performing condensation reaction, in the presence of a titanium compound serving as a titanium-based condensation-accelerating agent. A rubber composition contains the modified diene polymer, and a tire is produced from the rubber composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignees: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION, JSR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ken Tanaka, Kouji Masaki, Yoichi Ozawa, Eiji Suzuki, Christine M. Rademacher, Terrence E. Hogan, Takuo Sone, Takaomi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 8299184
    Abstract: A rubber composition for tire sidewall which comprises a rubber component, which comprises polybutadiene rubber having a content of the cis-1,4-bond of 92% or greater and a content of the vinyl bond of 1.5% or smaller and natural rubber and/or at least one other diene-based synthetic rubber, and 10 to 70 parts by mass of carbon black having a specific surface area by nitrogen adsorption of 20 to 100 m2/g per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component and does not comprise a softener having an aniline point of 50° C. or lower and a tire using the rubber composition for sidewall. Excellent resistance to cut growth is obtained while sufficient workability is surely exhibited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Junko Kurazumi, Kouji Masaki
  • Patent number: 8030406
    Abstract: This invention relates to a rubber composition having a high storage modulus (G?) and a low loss tangent (tan ?), and more particularly to a rubber composition comprising 2 to 60 parts by mass of a low-molecular weight aromatic vinyl compound-conjugated diene compound copolymer (B) having an aromatic vinyl compound content of 5 to 80% by mass, a vinyl bond content in a conjugated diene compound portion of 5 to 80% by mass, a weight average molecular weight as measured through a gel permeation chromatography and converted to polystyrene of 5,000 to 500,000 and at least one functional group based on 100 parts by mass of a rubber component (A) composed of at least one of natural rubber and synthetic diene-based rubbers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Noriko Mori, Eiji Suzuki, Kouji Masaki
  • Publication number: 20110146877
    Abstract: The invention provides a method for producing a modified conjugated diene (co)polymer, the method including comprising: a modification reaction step including causing an organic silane compound to react with a conjugated diene (co)polymer having an active site at the active site, the organic silane compound having a characteristic group for forming a silanol group through hydrolysis and, in the vicinity of the characteristic group, (i) a functional group which binds the organic silane compound to the conjugated diene (co)polymer via addition to or substitution at the active site and which promotes reaction between the silanol group and a reinforcing filler after the addition or substitution reaction, or (ii) a functional group which promotes reaction between the silanol group and a reinforcing filler, and a hydrolyzation step performed after the modification reaction step; a modified conjugated diene (co)polymer having, at a molecular end of the conjugated diene (co)polymer, a silanol group, and a functional
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2009
    Publication date: June 23, 2011
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ken Tanaka, Noriko Mori, Yuki Itoh, Yoichi Ozawa, Ryuji Nakagawa, Junko Matsushita, Shigeaki Matsuo, Kouji Masaki, Fumihiro Shiraishi, Fuminori Oota
  • Patent number: 7868081
    Abstract: This invention relates to a rubber composition having excellent workability, fracture characteristics and wear resistance and a low heat buildup and a high storage modulus (G?), and more particularly to a rubber composition comprising not less than 20 parts by mass of a reinforcing filler (B) and 5 to 60 parts by mass of a low-molecular weight aromatic vinyl compound-conjugated diene compound copolymer (C) having an aromatic vinyl compound content of 5 to 80% by mass, a vinyl bond content in a conjugated diene compound portion of 10 to 80% by mass and a weight average molecular weight as measured with a gel permeation chromatography and converted to polystyrene of 5,000 to 300,000 based on 100 parts by mass of a rubber component (A) containing not less than 10% by mass of a modified conjugated diene-based polymer having at least one functional group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Noriko Mori, Kouji Masaki
  • Publication number: 20100160530
    Abstract: A rubber composition comprises 10 to 70 parts by mass of carbon black having 20 to 100 m2/g of the specific surface area by nitrogen adsorption per 100 parts by mass of a rubber component comprising 20 to 80 parts by mass of a modified polybutadiene rubber and 80 to 20 parts by mass of natural rubber and/or at least one other diene-based synthetic rubber, wherein the modified polybutadiene is obtained by polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in an organic solvent using a compound having a rare earth element of the lanthanoid series, followed by modifying the obtained polybutadiene, and has a content of the cis-1,4-bond of 92% or greater, a content of vinyl bond of 1.5% or smaller and a fraction of the modified chain end of 20% or greater; and a tire using the rubber composition for a sidewall. The rubber composition exhibits excellent low heat buildup property and resistance to fracture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2007
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTRONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Junko Kurazumi, Kouji Masaki
  • Publication number: 20100016496
    Abstract: The invention provides a process for producing a modified conjugated diene based polymer which attains favorable interaction between a rubber component and carbon black and/or silica, thereby improving dispersibility of the fillers, and which exhibits excellent properties such as heat-buildup-suppressing performance, fracture characteristics, and wear resistance; a modified conjugated diene based polymer produced through the process; a rubber composition containing the diene polymer; and a tire produced from the rubber composition and exhibiting the above properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2007
    Publication date: January 21, 2010
    Inventors: Ken Tanaka, Kouji Masaki, Yoichi Ozawa, Eiji Suzuki, Christine M. Rademacher, Terrence E. Hogan, Takuo Sone, Takaomi Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20090239974
    Abstract: This invention relates to a rubber composition having excellent workability, fracture characteristics and wear resistance and a low heat buildup and a high storage modulus (G?), and more particularly to a rubber composition comprising not less than 20 parts by mass of a reinforcing filler (B) and 5 to 60 parts by mass of a low-molecular weight aromatic vinyl compound-conjugated diene compound copolymer (C) having an aromatic vinyl compound content of 5 to 80% by mass, a vinyl bond content in a conjugated diene compound portion of 10 to 80% by mass and a weight average molecular weight as measured with a gel permeation chromatography and converted to polystyrene of 5,000 to 300,000 based on 100 parts by mass of a rubber component (A) containing not less than 10% by mass of a modified conjugated diene-based polymer having at least one functional group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2006
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriko Mori, Kouji Masaki
  • Publication number: 20090203828
    Abstract: A rubber composition for tire sidewall which comprises a rubber component, which comprises polybutadiene rubber having a content of the cis-1,4-bond of 92% or greater and a content of the vinyl bond of 1.5% or smaller and natural rubber and/or at least one other diene-based synthetic rubber, and 10 to 70 parts by mass of carbon black having a specific surface area by nitrogen adsorption of 20 to 100 m2/g per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component and does not comprise a softener having an aniline point of 50° C. or lower and a tire using the rubber composition for sidewall. Excellent resistance to cut growth is obtained while sufficient workability is surely exhibited.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2007
    Publication date: August 13, 2009
    Applicant: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Junko Kurazumi, Kouji Masaki
  • Publication number: 20090018238
    Abstract: A method for producing a rubber-filler master batch which comprises mixing a rubber solution obtained by dissolving a diene-based rubber in an organic solvent into a slurry obtained by dispersing in water, in advance, carbon black, silica and/or at least one inorganic filler represented by the following general formula (I): nM1.xSiOy.zH2O??(I) [wherein M1 represents at least one selected from the group consisting of metals which are aluminum, magnesium, titanium, calcium and zirconium, oxides and hydroxides of the metals, hydrates thereof and carbonates of the metals, and n, x, y and z respectively represent an integer of 1 to 5, an integer of 0 to 10, an integer of 2 to 5 and an integer of 0 to 10.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2006
    Publication date: January 15, 2009
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Yanagisawa, Kouji Masaki, Kazuaki Someno
  • Publication number: 20080289740
    Abstract: This invention relates to a rubber composition having a high storage modulus (G?) and a low loss tangent (tan ?), and more particularly to a rubber composition comprising 2 to 60 parts by mass of a low-molecular weight aromatic vinyl compound-conjugated diene compound copolymer (B) having an aromatic vinyl compound content of 5 to 80% by mass, a vinyl bond content in a conjugated diene compound portion of 5 to 80% by mass, a weight average molecular weight as measured through a gel permeation chromatography and converted to polystyrene of 5,000 to 500,000 and at least one functional group based on 100 parts by mass of a rubber component (A) composed of at least one of natural rubber and synthetic diene-based rubbers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2006
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Applicant: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Noriko Mori, Eiji Suzuki, Kouji Masaki