The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 27, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 23, 2008
Michael T. Regan, Cambridge, MA (US);
Mridula Nair, Penfield, NY (US);
David D. Putnam, Fairport, NY (US);
Joseph S. Sedita, Albion, NY (US);
Cumar Sreekumar, Penfield, NY (US);
Michael T. Regan, Cambridge, MA (US);
Mridula Nair, Penfield, NY (US);
David D. Putnam, Fairport, NY (US);
Joseph S. Sedita, Albion, NY (US);
Cumar Sreekumar, Penfield, NY (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
An electrophotographic method for producing fused toner images on a receiver medium comprising the steps of: forming an electrostatic image pattern on an image forming member; developing the image pattern on the image forming member with fusible toner particles thereby forming a toner image thereon; transferring the toner image to the receiver medium; and heating the toner image to form a fused toner image on the receiver medium, wherein an amount of a plasticizer is added to the toner particles of the toner image after formation of the toner image on the image forming member and prior to or concurrent with fusing of the transferred toner image on the receiver medium, further wherein the amount of plasticizer added is effective in lowering the Tg of the toner below that of the toner under prevailing ambient conditions in the absence of the added plasticizer. The current invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art because the plasticizer is added immediately before fusing, thus avoiding toner clumping upon storage, as well as eliminating the high cost associated with a custom manufactured receiver that already contains plasticizer.