US4888264A — Process for preparing toner or capsule toner for …

Claim 1

Independent Claim 125 words

A process for preparing toner particles for use in electrophotography, comprising: (a) heating a mixture of 1 to 2000 parts by weight of a colorant and 100 parts by weight of a binder containing 30% by weight or more of a compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain, said compound having a melt viscosity of 1 to 30 centipoises at 100° C.; (b) stirring the heated mixture containing said binder in a molten state and substantially free of a liquid medium which is liquid at room temperature, in the presence of solid media for disintegrating an aggregate of said colorant in said mixture to obtain a uniform mixture; (c) forming particles of the uniform mixture; and (d) cooling said particles to obtain said toner particles.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 125 words

A process for preparing toner particles for use in electrophotography, comprising: (a) heating a mixture of 1 to 2000 parts by weight of a colorant and 100 parts by weight of a binder containing 30% by weight or more of a compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain, said compound having a melt viscosity of 1 to 30 centipoises at 100° C.; (b) stirring the heated mixture containing said binder in a molten state and substantially free of a liquid medium which is liquid at room temperature, in the presence of solid media for disintegrating an aggregate of said colorant in said mixture to obtain a uniform mixture; (c) forming particles of the uniform mixture; and (d) cooling said particles to obtain said toner particles.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 32 words

A process according to claim 1, wherein said mixture for stirring is heated at such a temperature of 100° C. or above that the melt viscosity thereof is 40 poises or below.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 26 words

A process according to claim 1, wherein said solid media are steel balls, glass beads or ceramic beads having a diameter of 0.2 to 20 mm.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 31 words

A process according to claim 3, wherein said solid media are used in a proportion of 5 to 200 parts by volume per 10 parts by volume of said heated mixture.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 22 words

A process according to claim 1, wherein said colorant is disintegrated into aggregates or primary particles of 5μ or less in size.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 44 words

A process according to claim 1, wherein said uniform mixture is charged into hot water containing an inorganic dispersant and dispersed under the action of a shearing force, and the resultant dispersion is quenched by contact with a cooling medium to form solid particles.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 27 words

A process according to claim 1, wherein said binder contains said compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain in a proportion of 505 by weight or more.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 19 words

The process of claim 1 wherein the particles of said uniform mixture are formed from a molten uniform mixture.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 145 words

A process for preparing a capsule toner having a solid core for use in electrophotography, comprising: (a) heating a mixture of 1 to 200 parts by weight of colorant and 100 parts by weight of a binder containing 30% by weight or more of a compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain; said compound having a melt viscosity of 1 to 30 centipoises at 100° C.; (b) stirring the heated mixture containing said binder in a molten state and substantially free of a liquid medium which is a liquid at room temperature, in the presence of solid media for disintegrating an aggregate of said colorant in said mixture to obtain a uniform mixture; (c) forming particles of the uniform mixture; (d) cooling said particles to obtain solid core particles; and (e) encapsulating the solid core particles with a shell material to obtain said capsule toner.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 145 words

A process for preparing a capsule toner having a solid core for use in electrophotography, comprising: (a) heating a mixture of 1 to 200 parts by weight of colorant and 100 parts by weight of a binder containing 30% by weight or more of a compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain; said compound having a melt viscosity of 1 to 30 centipoises at 100° C.; (b) stirring the heated mixture containing said binder in a molten state and substantially free of a liquid medium which is a liquid at room temperature, in the presence of solid media for disintegrating an aggregate of said colorant in said mixture to obtain a uniform mixture; (c) forming particles of the uniform mixture; (d) cooling said particles to obtain solid core particles; and (e) encapsulating the solid core particles with a shell material to obtain said capsule toner.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 32 words

A process according to claim 9, wherein said mixture for stirring is heated at such a temperature of 100° C. or above that the melt viscosity there is 40 poises or below.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 26 words

A process according to claim 9, wherein said solid media are steel balls, glass beads or ceramic beads having a diameter of 0.2 to 20 mm.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 31 words

A process according to claim 11, wherein said solid media are used in a proportion of 5 to 200 parts by volume per 10 parts by volume of said heated mixture.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 21 words

A process according to claim 9, wherein said colorant is disintegrated into aggregates or primary particles of 5μ less in size.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 46 words

A process according to claim 9, wherein said uniform mixture is charged into hot water containing an inorganic dispersant and dispersed under the action of a shearing force, and the resultant, dispersion is quenched by contact with a cooling medium to form said solid core particles.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 30 words

A process according to claim 14, wherein said solid core particles are encapsulated with the shell material through phase separation of a solution of the shell material in a solvent.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 15, wherein said solid core particles are substantially insoluble in the solvent.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 61 words

A process according to claim 15, wherein said solution for the phase separation contains a polymer having an ethylenically polymerized main chain and branches of a long alkyl group and an acid anhydride group represented by the following formula (I) or (II): ##STR3## wherein R is an alkyl group having 4 to 28 carbon atoms and n is a polymerization degree.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 42 words

A process according to claim 1, wherein said solid core particles are encapsulated by dispersing them in a solution of the shell material in dimethylformamide containing an α-olefin-maleic anhydride copolymer therein also dissolved therein, and by gradually adding water into the solution.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 18 words

A process according to claim 9, wherein said solid core particles show a penetration of 15 or below.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 54 words

A toner comprising solid particles each comprising a compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain and having a melt viscosity of 1 to 30 centipoises at 100° C., and colorant particles which have been disintegrated to a size of 5μ or smaller, said toner having been produced by the process according to claim 1.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 104 words

A capsule toner comprising capsules each comprising a core material and a shell material coating the core material, said core material comprising a compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain and having a melt viscosity of 1 to 30 centiposes at 100° C. and colorant particles which have been disintegrated to a size of 5μ or smaller, the toner capsules having such a particle size distribution that 50% or more of the capsules are present in a particle size range of ±4μ from the average particle size of the whole capsules, said capsule toner having been obtained by the process according to claim 9.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 27 words

A process according to claim 9, wherein said binder contains said compound having an aliphatic hydrocarbon long chain in a proportion of 50% by weight or more.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 19 words

The process of claim 9 wherein the particles of said uniform mixture are formed from a molten uniform mixture.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1992-12-18	1993-06-19	1993-12-19	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1996-12-18	1997-06-19	1997-12-19	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2000-12-18	2001-06-19	2001-12-19	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Process for preparing toner or capsule toner for use in electrophotography

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