Abstract: A reaction liquid destabilizing the dissolved state or dispersed state of a coloring material by being in contact with an ink containing the coloring material on a recording medium, wherein the reaction liquid contains at least calcium ions, glycerin and polyethylene glycols, and wherein the content and ratio of these components are specified.

Abstract: In a construction which uses a wiping member to wipe off ink adhering to the surface of an ink jet print head formed with ink ejection nozzles, it is realized that a desired wiping performance in any environment without requiring a large space to accommodate a liquid supplied to the wiping member for satisfactory wiping. To this end, a cooling unit is used which can produce water by cooling the atmosphere. This cooling unit is operated to produce water, which is brought into contact with and transferred onto the wiping member before the wiping member performs wiping.

Abstract: A water-based ink of the present invention comprises water, a plurality of different water-soluble organic solvents, and a water-insoluble coloring material, wherein the above water-soluble organic solvents consist of a good solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material and a poor solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material, and the total amount (% by mass) of the good solvents in the ink is represented by A and the total amount (% by mass) of the poor solvent in the ink is represented by B, the ratio of A to B ranges from 10:5 to 10:30 both inclusive, and when the respective Ka values of the above water-soluble organic solvents are determined by the Bristow method and compared with each other, a water-soluble organic solvent having the largest Ka value is the poor solvent. The pigment ink has a sufficiently large area factor even with a small amount of ink and provides an image of high OD.

Abstract: A water-based ink of the present invention comprises water, a plurality of different water-soluble organic solvents, and a water-insoluble coloring material, wherein the above water-soluble organic solvents consist of a good solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material and a poor solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material, and the total amount (% by mass) of the good solvents in the ink is represented by A and the total amount (% by mass) of the poor solvent in the ink is represented by B, the ratio of A to B ranges from 10:5 to 10:30 both inclusive, and when the respective Ka values of the above water-soluble organic solvents are determined by the Bristow method and compared with each other, a water-soluble organic solvent having the largest Ka value is the poor solvent. The pigment ink has a sufficiently large area factor even with a small amount of ink and provides an image of high OD.

Abstract: Disclosed is an aqueous ink comprising at least water, a plurality of water-soluble organic solvents and a coloring material. The coloring material is a pigment, and, it contains a pigment particle having at least one ionic group bonded to a surface of the pigment particle directly or via another atomic group. The plurality of water-soluble organic solvents have a good medium or good mediums for the pigment and a poor medium or poor mediums for the pigment. The poor medium does not solvate perfectly or substantially the pigment. The ionic group undergoes perfectly or substantially no ionic dissociation in the poor medium. Also, among the respective Ka values of the plurality of water-soluble organic solvents as determined by the Bristow method, the Ka value of the poor medium is maximum.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an aqueous ink which can form a more excellent image in bleeding resistance, character quality and print density than the image formed by using an aqueous ink containing a conventional self-dispersion pigment and a salt. The aqueous ink includes a self-dispersion pigment and a salt, in which the self-dispersion pigment is a pigment containing a pigment particle having a —R—(COOM1)n group bonded to a surface of the pigment particle, wherein R represents an alkylene group or an aromatic ring; M1 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkali metal, an ammonium or an organic ammonium; and n is an integer of 2 or more.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a body taste enhancer and a seasoning for food or drink which comprises a peptide having glycine and L-proline as the first and the second amino acids from the N-terminal, respectively, and having a molecular weight of 1000 or less, for example, a peptide consisting of an amino acid sequence represented by Gly-Pro-3Hyp, Gly-Pro-4Hyp, or Gly-Pro-Ala, as an active ingredient, and a method of enhancing body taste of food or drink which is characterized by adding the peptide, body taste enhancer or seasoning.

Abstract: An aqueous ink to be used in an ink jet recording method that an ink is ejected from a recording head by the action of thermal energy, wherein the ink contains a pigment, a polymer and a water-soluble organic solvent, the hydrophilicity ?m of the pigment falls within a range of from 21.5 or more to 23.5 or less, and the content (mass %) of the water-soluble organic solvent is from 5.0 mass % or more to 17.5 mass % or less with respect to the whole mass of the aqueous ink.

Abstract: An aqueous ink comprising at least water, a water-soluble organic solvent and a colorant. The colorant comprises a pigment containing a pigment particle having at least one ionic group bonded to a surface of the pigment particle directly or via another atomic group. The organic solvent undergoes completely or substantially no solvation with the pigment and the ionic group of the pigment particle undergoes completely or substantially no ion dissociation in the organic solvent.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an aqueous ink which can form a more excellent image in bleeding resistance, character quality and print density than the image formed by using an aqueous ink containing a conventional self-dispersion pigment and a salt. The aqueous ink includes a self-dispersion pigment and a salt, in which the self-dispersion pigment is a pigment containing a pigment particle having a —R—(COOM1)n group bonded to a surface of the pigment particle, wherein R represents an alkylene group or an aromatic ring; M1 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkali metal, an ammonium or an organic ammonium; and n is an integer of 2 or more.

Abstract: Disclosed is an aqueous ink comprising at least water, a plurality of water-soluble organic solvents and a coloring material. The coloring material is a pigment, and, it contains a pigment particle having at least one ionic group bonded to a surface of the pigment particle directly or via another atomic group. The plurality of water-soluble organic solvents have a good medium or good mediums for the pigment and a poor medium or poor mediums for the pigment. The poor medium does not solvate perfectly or substantially the pigment. The ionic group undergoes perfectly or substantially no ionic dissociation in the poor medium. Also, among the respective Ka values of the plurality of water-soluble organic solvents as determined by the Bristow method, the Ka value of the poor medium is maximum.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an aqueous ink, particularly an aqueous ink suitable for ink jet recording. The ink is an aqueous ink comprising a modified pigment having organic groups chemically attached to the surface of a particle of the pigment and an aqueous medium which is a dispersant of the pigment, wherein the above-described organic group includes a reaction product of a functional group chemically attached to the surface of the pigment directly or via another atomic group with a copolymer of an ionic monomer and a hydrophobic monomer.

Abstract: An ink set, which is an ink set (A) obtained by combining a plurality of aqueous inks (a) and is used together with an aqueous ink (B) containing a water-insoluble coloring material, wherein respective aqueous inks constituting the ink set (A) contain at least one water-soluble organic solvent serving as a poor solvent for the water-insoluble coloring material constituting the aqueous ink (B), and among the water-soluble organic solvents which are respectively contained in the aqueous ink (a) and serve as a poor solvent, at least one water-soluble organic solvent has a vapor pressure at 20° C. lower than the vapor pressure of water at 20° C. It is possible to obtain an image in which occurrence of the bleeding at the boundaries between different color regions has been suppressed in the case where a full-color image in which the respective color-regions are situated adjacently to one another is formed.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an aqueous ink, particularly an aqueous ink suitable for ink jet recording. The ink is an aqueous ink comprising a modified pigment having organic groups chemically attached to the surface of a particle of the pigment and an aqueous medium which is a dispersant of the pigment, wherein the above-described organic group includes a reaction product of a functional group chemically attached to the surface of the pigment directly or via another atomic group with a copolymer of an ionic monomer and a hydrophobic monomer.

Abstract: A water-based ink of the present invention comprises water, a plurality of different water-soluble organic solvents, and a water-insoluble coloring material, wherein the above water-soluble organic solvents consist of a good solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material and a poor solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material, and the total amount (% by mass) of the good solvents in the ink is represented by A and the total amount (% by mass) of the poor solvent in the ink is represented by B, the ratio of A to B ranges from 10:5 to 10:30 both inclusive, and when the respective Ka values of the above water-soluble organic solvents are determined by the Bristow method and compared with each other, a water-soluble organic solvent having the largest Ka value is the poor solvent. The pigment ink has a sufficiently large area factor even with a small amount of ink and provides an image of high OD.

Abstract: An aqueous ink comprising at least water, a water-soluble organic solvent and a colorant.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a method for improving flavor of a food or drink, a flavor improving agent for a food or drink, a seasoning, and a food or drink having improved flavor. To attain the object, the present invention provides a method for improving flavor of a food or drink, which comprises adding an amino-carbonyl reactant of a peptide having a molecular weight of 1000-5000 with a carbonyl compound, a flavor improving agent comprising said amino-carbonyl reactant as an active ingredient, a seasoning comprising said amino-carbonyl reactant and umami as active ingredients, and a food or drink comprising said flavor improving agent or seasoning added thereto.

Abstract: The invention provides an ink set, a process for forming a colored portion and an ink-jet recording apparatus which are used for obtaining higher-quality ink-jet recorded articles. The ink set includes an aqueous ink containing at least an ultrafinely particulate pigment as a coloring material and an aqueous liquid composition containing fine particles, dispersed therein and electrically charged at the surface in a polarity opposite to the ink.

Abstract: An ink set for ink-jet recording that includes a plurality of inks containing coloring materials insoluble in water to form a high quality ink-jet recording image is provided. The water-based ink set for ink-jet recording includes a black ink and a color ink, wherein the black ink contains a carbon black as a coloring material having a volume average particle diameter determined by dynamic light scattering of not less than 50 nm, the color ink contains a pigment as a coloring material having a volume average particle diameter determined by dynamic light scattering of not more than 60 nm, and an accumulative 90% particle diameter of volume particle size distribution of not more than 100 nm, the volume average particle diameter of the carbon black of the black ink is larger than the volume average particle diameter of the pigment of the color ink, and the black ink has a surface tension higher than that of the color ink.

Abstract: There is disclosed an ink for ink jet which produces a high quality level image, is superior in intermittent ejection stability from an ink jet recording head, and can inhibit printing distortion or ejection defect from being caused by a thickened material of the ink attached to an ejection port surface.