Patents by Inventor Tsutomu Shimano

Tsutomu Shimano 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: 11960225
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes, an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a sheet using printing toner and apply powder adhesive on the sheet, a fixing portion configured to heat the toner image formed on the sheet and the powder adhesive applied on the sheet by the image forming portion and fix the toner image and the powder adhesive to the sheet, and a bonding portion configured to bond the sheet with the powder adhesive by reheating the sheet having been heated by the fixing portion. The bonding portion is arranged above the image forming portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koji Yamaguchi, Kohei Matsuda, Hiroki Ogino, Yasushi Katsuta, Kaori Noguchi, Junko Hirata, Akira Kuroda, Yuki Nishizawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Toru Oguma
  • Patent number: 11835898
    Abstract: An adhesion apparatus includes: an image forming unit configured to form, through an electrophotographic process, an adhesive image of a powder adhesive on a sheet that is conveyed; and a control unit configured to control the image forming unit to use a first pattern in a first conveyance period, and use a second pattern different from the first pattern in a second conveyance period following the first conveyance period, as a formation pattern in an adhering section corresponding to part of a width direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kohei Matsuda, Taku Watanabe, Shun Sato, Tsutomu Shimano, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Patent number: 11592757
    Abstract: Provided is an electrophotographic developer set having a toner and a powder adhesive, wherein the toner comprises a thermoplastic resin A; the powder adhesive comprises a thermoplastic resin B and a wax A; the wax A has two or more ester groups in the molecule; the thermoplastic resin B has an ester group; and in a viscoelasticity measurement, with Gt?(100) (Pa) being a storage elastic modulus at 100° C. of the toner, and Gb?(100) (Pa) being a storage elastic modulus at 100° C. of the powder adhesive, Gb?(100) is 1.00×105 Pa or less, and Gt?(100)/Gb?(100) is 1.20 or more, as well as a method for producing a bonded product using the above electrophotographic developer set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shohei Yamashita, Yuhei Terui, Koji Nishikawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Kohei Matsuda, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Publication number: 20220326633
    Abstract: A toner comprising a toner particle comprising a binder resin and a release agent, wherein the binder resin comprises a crystalline resin A, the crystalline resin A comprises a monomer unit derived from a monomer (a), the monomer (a) is at least one selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylic acid esters having an alkyl group with 18 to 36 carbon atoms, the peak temperature and endothermic quantity at an endothermic peak derived from the crystalline resin A in DSC measurements using the toner satisfy specific relationships, and the release agent is at least one selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbon-based waxes and ester waxes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Inventors: Kenji Aoki, Takashi Matsui, Takayuki Toyoda, Tsutomu Shimano, Shohei Shibahara, Yuna Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11448980
    Abstract: A toner comprising a toner particle comprising a binder resin and an azo dye, wherein the binder resin comprises a polymer A, the polymer A is a polymer having a monomer unit derived from methacrylonitrile, and a relationship among an amount of substance (mol) of the monomer unit derived from methacrylonitrile, an amount of substance (mol) of the azo dye, and the number of azo groups in the azo dye in the toner particle satisfies formula below: [(amount of substance of azo dye (mol))×(number of azo groups in azo dye)/(amount of substance of monomer unit derived from methacrylonitrile (mol))]?0.500.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Matsui, Noritaka Toyoizumi, Tsutomu Shimano, Kenji Aoki, Shohei Shibahara, Yuna Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20220282124
    Abstract: A hot-melt adhesive comprising a thermoplastic resin and a first crystalline material, wherein when in differential scanning calorimetric measurement of the hot-melt adhesive, Tc (° C.) is a peak temperature of the highest peak of exothermic peaks observed in a temperature reduction process at 10° C./min following heating to 150° C. and Tm (° C.) is a peak temperature of the highest peak of endothermic peaks observed in a temperature increasing process at 10° C./min following the temperature reduction process, Tm-Tc is 20.0 to 70.0° C., and a tetrahydrofuran-soluble matter of the hot-melt adhesive has a weight-average molecular weight Mw, as measured by gel permeation chromatography, of 100,000 to 400,000.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Inventors: Kentaro Yamawaki, Yuhei Terui, Tsutomu Shimano
  • Publication number: 20220269201
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes, an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a sheet using printing toner and apply powder adhesive on the sheet, a fixing portion configured to heat the toner image formed on the sheet and the powder adhesive applied on the sheet by the image forming portion and fix the toner image and the powder adhesive to the sheet, and a bonding portion configured to bond the sheet with the powder adhesive by reheating the sheet having been heated by the fixing portion. The bonding portion is arranged above the image forming portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Inventors: Koji Yamaguchi, Kohei Matsuda, Hiroki Ogino, Yasushi Katsuta, Kaori Noguchi, Junko Hirata, Akira Kuroda, Yuki Nishizawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Toru Oguma
  • Publication number: 20220187725
    Abstract: A toner contains a toner particle containing a resin component and a wax. The resin component contains a vinyl polymer A having a monomer unit A represented by the formula (A): In a luminance histogram created from STEM observation, the total pixel value C in luminance 0 to 9 and the total pixel value A in luminance 0 to 245 satisfy 0.000?C/A?0.250. When the pixel value in luminance 10 to 245 has a maximum value P at luminance X, luminance M-luminance N ranges from 120 to 235, wherein the luminance M denotes a luminance at which the pixel value falls below 20% of P for the first time from the luminance X to 245, and the luminance N denotes a luminance at which the pixel value falls below 20% of the P for the first time from the luminance X to 10.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2021
    Publication date: June 16, 2022
    Inventors: Yuna Yamamoto, Shohei Shibahara, Kenji Aoki, Tsutomu Shimano, Takashi Matsui, Takayuki Toyoda
  • Patent number: 11360416
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes, an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a sheet using printing toner and apply powder adhesive on the sheet, a fixing portion configured to heat the toner image formed on the sheet and the powder adhesive applied on the sheet by the image forming portion and fix the toner image and the powder adhesive to the sheet, and a bonding portion configured to bond the sheet with the powder adhesive by reheating the sheet having been heated by the fixing portion. The bonding portion is arranged above the image forming portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koji Yamaguchi, Kohei Matsuda, Hiroki Ogino, Yasushi Katsuta, Kaori Noguchi, Junko Hirata, Akira Kuroda, Yuki Nishizawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Toru Oguma
  • Patent number: 11287758
    Abstract: Provided is a toner has a toner particle containing a binder resin and is characterized in that the binder resin contains a polymer A, which is a polymer of a composition containing a first polymerizable monomer, a second polymerizable monomer and a crosslinking agent, the first polymerizable monomer is at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylic acid esters having an alkyl group with 18 to 36 carbon atoms, the crosslinking agent has two or more polymerizable double bonds, a content of the first polymerizable monomer in the composition is 5.0 to 60.0 mol %, a content of the second polymerizable monomer is 20.0 to 95.0 mol %, and when the SP values of the first polymerizable monomer, the second polymerizable monomer and the crosslinking agent are denoted by SP12, SP22 and SPC2, respectively, the formulae 0.60?(SP22?SP12)?15.00 and SP12<SPC2<(SP22+3.00) are satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Matsui, Kenta Kamikura, Kenji Aoki, Masao Suzuki, Tsutomu Shimano, Reo Tagawa
  • Publication number: 20220041906
    Abstract: The powder adhesive comprises a thermoplastic resin and particles of an aromatic compound, wherein the particles of an aromatic compound are particles of a compound that has an aromatic ring and an azo bond bonded to the aromatic ring, or are particles of a compound comprising a heteroaromatic ring comprising nitrogen atom; the thermoplastic resin comprises an ester group; and, designating Es (mmol/g) as an ester group concentration in the thermoplastic resin, M (mass %) as a content of the aromatic compound particles in the powder adhesive, and N (mmol/g) as a nitrogen atom concentration in the aromatic compound particles, Es is from 1.0 mmol/g to 4.5 mmol/g, M is from 1.0×10?4 mass % to 1.0×100 mass %, and N is from 5.0 mmol/g to 15.0 mmol/g.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Publication date: February 10, 2022
    Inventors: Yuhei Terui, Shohei Yamashita, Tsutomu Shimano, Koji Nishikawa, Kohei Matsuda, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Publication number: 20220035288
    Abstract: An adhesion apparatus includes: an image forming unit configured to form, through an electrophotographic process, an adhesive image of a powder adhesive on a sheet that is conveyed; and a control unit configured to control the image forming unit to use a first pattern in a first conveyance period, and use a second pattern different from the first pattern in a second conveyance period following the first conveyance period, as a formation pattern in an adhering section corresponding to part of a width direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2021
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Inventors: Kohei Matsuda, Taku Watanabe, Shun Sato, Tsutomu Shimano, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Publication number: 20220035264
    Abstract: Provided is an electrophotographic developer set having a toner and a powder adhesive, wherein the toner comprises a thermoplastic resin A; the powder adhesive comprises a thermoplastic resin B and a wax A; the wax A has two or more ester groups in the molecule; the thermoplastic resin B has an ester group; and in a viscoelasticity measurement, with Gt?(100) (Pa) being a storage elastic modulus at 100° C. of the toner, and Gb?(100) (Pa) being a storage elastic modulus at 100° C. of the powder adhesive, Gb?(100) is 1.00×105 Pa or less, and Gt?(100)/Gb?(100) is 1.20 or more, as well as a method for producing a bonded product using the above electrophotographic developer set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Inventors: Shohei Yamashita, Yuhei Terui, Koji Nishikawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Kohei Matsuda, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Publication number: 20220035262
    Abstract: An electrophotographic developer set comprising a toner, and a powder adhesive, wherein the powder adhesive comprises a crystalline polyester resin, and a thermoplastic resin other than the crystalline polyester resin; the amount of the crystalline polyester resin in the powder adhesive is 21% by mass or more; the melting point of the crystalline polyester resin is 55° C. to 100° C.; in a viscoelasticity measurement, where Gt?(100) denotes a storage elastic modulus of the toner at 100° C. and Gb?(100) denotes a storage elastic modulus of the powder adhesive at 100° C., Gb?(100) is 1.0×105 Pa or less and Gt?(100)/Gb?(100) is 1.2 or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Inventors: Koji Nishikawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Yuhei Terui, Shohei Yamashita, Kohei Matsuda, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Publication number: 20220035261
    Abstract: An electrophotographic developer set comprising a toner comprising a thermoplastic resin and a wax, and a powder adhesive comprising a thermoplastic resin and a wax, wherein where Ea (mmol/g) denotes an ester group concentration of the wax contained in the toner, Na (mass %) denotes a content of the wax in the toner, Eb (mmol/g) denotes an ester group concentration of the wax contained in the powder adhesive, and Nb (mass %) denotes a content of the wax in the powder adhesive, the Ea, the Na, the Eb and the Nb satisfy the following formulae: 0.00?Ea?2.45, 2.50?Eb?3.60, and 0.80?Nb/Na.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Inventors: Tsutomu Shimano, Koji Nishikawa, Yuhei Terui, Shohei Yamashita, Kohei Matsuda, Yuki Nishizawa
  • Publication number: 20220035296
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, a fixing portion configured to heat the toner image formed on the sheet by the image forming portion and fix the toner image to the sheet, a folding portion configured to fold the sheet having passed through the fixing portion such that a surface of the sheet to which the powder adhesive is applied is inside, and a bonding portion configured to heat the sheet folded by the folding portion and bond the sheet by the powder adhesive. A relationship of Tmax1>Tmax2 is satisfied, where Tmax1 (° C.) is a highest temperature of the powder adhesive when being heated by the fixing portion and Tmax2 (° C.) is a highest temperature of the powder adhesive when being heated by the bonding portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2021
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Inventors: Yuki Nishizawa, Shigeto Tamura, Takaaki Tsuruya, Tsutomu Shimano, Kohei Matsuda, Tetsuya Sano, Kenji Takagi, Tomoaki Nakai, Masaki Shimomura
  • Publication number: 20210191297
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes, an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a sheet using printing toner and apply powder adhesive on the sheet, a fixing portion configured to heat the toner image formed on the sheet and the powder adhesive applied on the sheet by the image forming portion and fix the toner image and the powder adhesive to the sheet, and a bonding portion configured to bond the sheet with the powder adhesive by reheating the sheet having been heated by the fixing portion. The bonding portion is arranged above the image forming portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Inventors: Koji Yamaguchi, Kohei Matsuda, Hiroki Ogino, Yasushi Katsuta, Kaori Noguchi, Junko Hirata, Akira Kuroda, Yuki Nishizawa, Tsutomu Shimano, Toru Oguma
  • Publication number: 20210181646
    Abstract: A toner comprising a toner particle comprising a binder resin and an azo dye, wherein the binder resin comprises a polymer A, the polymer A is a polymer having a monomer unit derived from methacrylonitrile, and a relationship among an amount of substance (mol) of the monomer unit derived from methacrylonitrile, an amount of substance (mol) of the azo dye, and the number of azo groups in the azo dye in the toner particle satisfies formula below: [(amount of substance of azo dye (mol))×(number of azo groups in azo dye)/(amount of substance of monomer unit derived from methacrylonitrile (mol))]?0.500.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Inventors: Takashi Matsui, Noritaka Toyoizumi, Tsutomu Shimano, Kenji Aoki, Shohei Shibahara, Yuna Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20210181648
    Abstract: A toner comprising a toner particle including a crystalline resin, wherein where a complex modulus of elasticity at 30° C. is denoted by G*(30) and a complex modulus of elasticity at 50° C. is denoted by G*(50) in dynamic viscoelasticity measurement of the toner, and where a peak temperature of an exothermic peak derived from the crystalline resin in a temperature lowering process after a temperature is raised to 150° C., is denoted by Tc (° C.), a peak temperature of an endothermic peak derived from the crystalline resin in a temperature raising process after the temperature lowering process, is denoted by Tm (° C.), and an endothermic quantity is denoted by ?H (J/g) in differential scanning calorimetry of the toner, G*(30), G*(50), Tc, Tm and ?H satisfy specific relationships.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2020
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Inventors: Tsutomu Shimano, Takashi Matsui, Kenji Aoki, Shohei Shibahara, Yuna Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 10877389
    Abstract: The toner has a toner particle in which a toner core containing a binder resin is coated with a shell layer, wherein the binder resin contains a polymer A that has a first monomer unit and a second monomer unit; the first unit is derived from (meth)acrylate ester having an alkyl group having 18 to 36 carbon atoms; the content of the first monomer unit in the polymer is 5.0 to 60.0 mol %; the content of the second monomer unit is 20.0 to 95.0 mol %; the following formula (1) is satisfied when the SP value of the first unit is denoted by SP11 and the SP value of the second unit is denoted by SP21; and the toner core is coated with a highly uniform shell over at least 90% of the circumference of the toner cross section; 3.00?(SP21?SP11)?25.00??(1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenta Kamikura, Takashi Matsui, Kenji Aoki, Masao Suzuki, Tsutomu Shimano, Reo Tagawa