Patents by Inventor Osamu Uchinokura

Osamu Uchinokura 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: 20110262856
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin which contains a crystalline polyester resin and a non-crystalline polyester resin, wherein the crystalline polyester resin has at least two diffraction peaks in a range of 20°<2?<25° as detected by X-ray diffraction measurement, and has a melting point which is 60° C. or higher but lower than 80° C., and wherein the diffraction peaks each have a half width which is less than 1.0°.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2011
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi SUGIMOTO, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Ogawa, Junichi Awamura, Satoshi Kojima, Daisuke Ito, Teruki Kusahara, Daisuke Inoue, Mamoru Hozumi, Shoko Sato
  • Patent number: 8043778
    Abstract: A toner including toner particles including a binder resin, and a modified layered inorganic material in which at least part of interlayer ions is replaced with an organic ion, and a fatty acid metal compound located on a surface of the toner particles; and an external additive located on the fatty acid metal compound, wherein the external additive is a material different from the fatty acid metal compound. An image forming apparatus including an image bearing member; a developing device configured to develop the electrostatic latent image with a developer including the toner; a transfer device; and a fixing device. A method for preparing the toner including dispersing or emulsifying a toner composition including a modified layered inorganic material to prepare toner particles; mixing a fatty acid metal compound with the toner particles; and second mixing the toner particles with an external additive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Naohiro Watanabe, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Kojima
  • Patent number: 8029960
    Abstract: A toner, including a parent particulate material including a colorant and a binder resin, and an external additive including particles having an average primary particle diameter from 80 to less than 150 nm in an amount of from 0.03 to 2% by number, particles having an average primary particle diameter from 5 nm to less than 15 nm in an amount of from 50 to 95% by number, and particles having an average primary particle diameter from 15 to less than 40 nm in an amount of from 5 to 40% by number, and the particles having an average primary particle diameter from 80 to less than 150 nm include particles having an average primary particle diameter not less than 200 nm in an amount of from 10 to 30% by number, and have a weight reduction rate not greater than 3.00% when heated from 30 to 250° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Naohiro Watanabe, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Kojima
  • Patent number: 8026031
    Abstract: Toner and a developer which are excellent in cleaning property and fixing property at low temperature, and capable of forming images with high quality are provided. A toner prepared by dispersing and/or emulsifying an oil phase or a monomer phase comprising a toner composition and/or a toner composition precursor in a water-based medium to granulate, wherein the toner has an average circularity of 0.925 to 0.970, and the toner composition and/or the toner composition precursor has a layered inorganic material in which at least a part of interlayer ions in the layered inorganic material has been exchanged with organic ions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Watanabe, Shigeru Emoto, Yohichiroh Watanabe, Masahide Yamada, Tsunemi Sugiyama, Masahiro Ohki, Akinori Saitoh, Ryota Inoue, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura
  • Patent number: 8007976
    Abstract: A toner is provided that comprises a colorant and a binder resin, wherein the binder resin comprises a polyester resin that is prepared by a polycondensation reaction in the presence of at least a titanium-containing catalyst expressed by General Formula (II) or (II), the toner has a volume average particle diameter of 2.0 ?m to 10.0 ?m and a ratio Dv/Dn within a range of 1.00 to 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideki Sugiura, Hiroyuki Fushimi, Osamu Uchinokura, Takahiro Honda, Masami Tomita, Hyo Shu, Ken Umehara
  • Publication number: 20110200928
    Abstract: A method for producing a toner, including: dispersing toner particles containing at least a binder resin in a first aqueous medium so as to produce an aqueous dispersion; and subjecting the aqueous dispersion to heat treatment, wherein the electric conductivity of the aqueous dispersion after the heat treatment is higher than the electric conductivity of the aqueous dispersion before the heat treatment by 50 ?S/cm or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2011
    Publication date: August 18, 2011
    Inventors: Masaki WATANABE, Osamu Uchinokura, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo, Takahiro Honda, Ryuta Chiba
  • Patent number: 7943280
    Abstract: A toner containing a colorant, a binder resin and a laminar inorganic mineral in which part or all of the ions present between layers are modified by organic ions. The toner can be prepared by a method including dispersing or emulsifying a toner constituent mixture liquid containing the colorant, the binder resin and/or a precursor thereof, and the laminar inorganic mineral, in an aqueous medium. The density of the laminar inorganic mineral measured by XPS for the toner surface before (A) and after (B) mixing and kneading satisfies the following relationship: A>B.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Uchinokura, Naohiro Watanabe, Junichi Awamura
  • Publication number: 20110086308
    Abstract: Toner and a developer which are excellent in cleaning property and fixing property at low temperature, and capable of forming images with high quality are provided, along with a method for their production. A toner producing method involves dispersing and/or emulsifying an oil phase or a monomer phase containing a toner composition and/or a toner composition precursor in a water-based medium to granulate, wherein the toner has an average circularity of 0.925 to 0.970, and the toner composition and/or the toner composition precursor has a layered inorganic material in which at least a part of interlayer ions in the layered inorganic material has been exchanged with organic ions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2010
    Publication date: April 14, 2011
    Inventors: Naohiro WATANABE, Shigeru Emoto, Yohichiroh Watanabe, Masahide Yamada, Tsunemi Sugiyama, Masahiro Ohki, Akinori Saitoh, Ryota Inoue, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura
  • Publication number: 20110065033
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin, a coloring agent, a releasing agent, and an additive, the releasing agent having a loss on heat of from 0.5 to 2.0% after being left at 165° C. for 10 minutes, the ratio (P2850/P828) of an absorption strength of a peak at 2,850 cm?1 ascribed to the releasing agent to an absorption strength of a peak at 828 cm31 1 ascribed to the binder resin ranging from 0.03 to 0.25 wherein the ratio is measured according to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), and an amount of heat of melting ascribable to the releasing agent according to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) ranging from 2 to 25 mj/mg.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2010
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Inventors: Osamu UCHINOKURA, Fumihiro Sasaki, Satoshi Kojima, Daisuke Inoue
  • Publication number: 20110003244
    Abstract: The toner includes a binder resin; a colorant; and a release agent. The first inter-particle force Fp(A) of the toner, which is measured under an environmental condition of 23° C. and 60% RH after the toner is pressed for 1 minute at 25° C. under a compression stress of 15 kg/cm2, is from 1.0×10?9 (N) to 1.0×10?6 (N). The difference (Fp(B)?Fp(A)) between the second inter-particle force Fp(B) of the toner, which is measured under the environmental condition of 23° C. and 60% RH after the toner is pressed for 1 minute at 50° C. under a compression stress of 15 kg/cm2, and the first inter-particle force Fp(A) is 0 (N) to 1.0×10?7 (N).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Inventors: Daisuke INOUE, Fumihiro Sasaki, Osamu Uchinokura, Satoshi Kojima, Hideki Sugiura, Naoko Morisawa
  • Patent number: 7824831
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin, a colorant, and a release agent is provided. The difference in absorbance ratio between the toner heated for 1 minute in an atmosphere of 100° C. and the toner stored in an atmosphere of 23° C. is from 0.1 to 0.2. The absorbance ratio is a ratio of an absorbance specific to the release agent (such as at 2850 cm?1 for a wax) to an absorbance specific to the binder resin (such as at 828 cm?1 for a polyester based binder resin), as measured by a Fourier transform infrared-total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Masahide Yamada, Akinori Saitoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Junichi Awamura
  • Patent number: 7817955
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image bearing member to bear a latent electrostatic image, a charging member to charge a surface of the image bearing member, an irradiation member to irradiate the image bearing member to write the latent electrostatic image, a development member to develop the latent electrostatic image with a toner to form a visualized image, a transfer device to transfer the visualized image directly or via an intermediate transfer body to a recording medium, a fixing device to fix the transferred image transferred on the recording medium and a cleaning device to remove residual toner remaining on the image bearing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Kojima, Naohiro Watanabe, Osamu Uchinokura, Tsuneyasu Nagatomo
  • Publication number: 20100209841
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing a toner including preparing an emulsified dispersion which contains emulsion particles by emulsifying or dispersing an oil phase containing at least a pigment and any one of a binder resin and a binder resin precursor in an aqueous medium, and granulating toner base particles by converging the emulsified dispersion, wherein the Casson yield value of the single oil phase before being emulsified or dispersed in the aqueous medium is 0.5 Pa to 20 Pa; and the temperature Tn of the emulsified dispersion in the preparation of the emulsified dispersion, the temperature Ts of the emulsified dispersion in the granulation of the toner base particles, and the glass transition temperature Tg of the toner base particles satisfy the relation Tn<Ts<Tg.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Publication date: August 19, 2010
    Inventors: Osamu UCHINOKURA, Fumihiro Sasaki, Satoshi Mochizuki, Hidetoshi Noda, Tsuyoshi Fukushima, Koutaro Kitano
  • Patent number: 7741002
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing a toner including preparing an emulsified dispersion which contains emulsion particles by emulsifying or dispersing an oil phase containing at least a pigment and any one of a binder resin and a binder resin precursor in an aqueous medium, and granulating toner base particles by converging the emulsified dispersion, wherein the Casson yield value of the single oil phase before being emulsified or dispersed in the aqueous medium is 0.5 Pa to 20 Pa; and the temperature Tn of the emulsified dispersion in the preparation of the emulsified dispersion, the temperature Ts of the emulsified dispersion in the granulation of the toner base particles, and the glass transition temperature Tg of the toner base particles satisfy the relation Tn<Ts<Tg.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Uchinokura, Fumihiro Sasaki, Satoshi Mochizuki, Hidetoshi Noda, Tsuyoshi Fukushima, Koutaro Kitano
  • Patent number: 7642032
    Abstract: A toner including a binder resin; and a colorant, wherein a hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP)-soluble component satisfies the following relationship: 2,000 ?Mn ?7,000 and 1.5 ?Mn/Mw ?10 wherein Mn represents a number-average molecular weight and Mw represents a weight-average molecular weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Hideki Sugiura, Satoshi Mochizuki, Akihiro Kotsugai, Yasuo Asahina, Osamu Uchinokura, Hisashi Nakajima, Tomoyuki Ichikawa, Shinya Nakayama, Kohichi Sakata, Tomoko Utsumi, Hitoshi Iwatsuki, Yasuaki Iwamoto
  • Patent number: 7638250
    Abstract: A toner is provided including a colorant; a binder resin (A) which is a polyester resin having no tetrahydrofuran insoluble component, and having a molecular weight distribution such that components having a molecular weight of not greater than 500 are included in an amount of not greater than 4% by weight and a peak is present in a molecular weight range of from 3,000 to 9,000 when measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC); and a binder resin (B) which is a polyester resin having no tetrahydrofuran insoluble component, and including units of a polycarboxylic acid and a diol having the specific formula; wherein at least one of the binder resins (A) and (B) is prepared in the presence of the specific titanium-containing catalyst, and wherein a weight ratio ((A)/(B)) of the binder resin (A) to the binder resin (B) is from 60/40 to 85/15.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Takahiro Honda, Hiroyuki Fushimi, Osamu Uchinokura
  • Publication number: 20090280421
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a toner including dispersing a binder resin, a coloring agent and a releasing agent in an organic solvent to obtain an oil phase; dispersing the oil phase in an aqueous medium with a shearing force to obtain a dispersion emulsion; wherein the shearing force is made by a screen or vessel that is situated around a rotor, the screen spinning in a direction opposite to the direction that the rotor spins. Toner produced. Method of using the toner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2009
    Publication date: November 12, 2009
    Inventors: Junichi Awamura, Akinori Saitoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Masahide Yamada, Tomomi Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20090269692
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing the toner comprising dispersing at least one of a binder resin or a precursor thereof, a coloring agent and a releasing agent in an organic solvent to obtain an oil phase,dispersing the oil phase in an aqueous medium with a shearing force to obtain a dispersion emulsion, wherein the dispersion emulsion process has plural stages and the shear speed A of the emulsification process of stage n is faster than the shear speed B of the emulsification process of stage n+1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Inventors: Junichi AWAMURA, Akinori SAITOH, Osamu UCHINOKURA, Tomomi SUZUKI
  • Publication number: 20090226836
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a toner including granulating mother toner particles in an aqueous medium to obtain a slurry containing the mother toner particles and adjusting a size distribution of the mother toner particles by screening coarse mother toner particles from the slurry with a screen to obtain the toner containing mother toner particulates.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Inventors: OSAMU UCHINOKURA, AKINORI SAITOH, JUNICHI AWAMURA, MASAHIDE YAMADA, HIROSHI YAMADA
  • Publication number: 20090214975
    Abstract: A toner prepared by a method including dissolving or dispersing at least at least one member selected from the group consisting of binder resins and precursors thereof, a colorant, a release agent, and a layered inorganic mineral in which ions between its layers are at least partially modified with an organic ion in an organic solvent to prepare a solution or a dispersion which is an oil phase; and dispersing the oil phase in an aqueous medium to prepare an emulsified dispersion in which parent toner particles are granulated, wherein the aqueous medium includes a tertiary amine compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2009
    Publication date: August 27, 2009
    Inventors: Junichi AWAMURA, Akinori Saitoh, Osamu Uchinokura, Masahide Yamada, Tomomi Suzuki