| US 7,506,830 B2 | ||
| Apparatus for modifying surfaces of toner particles | ||
| Takeshi Naka, Susono (Japan); and Osamu Tamura, Kashiwa (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Feb. 22, 2008, as Appl. No. 12/35,785. | ||
| Application 12/035785 is a division of application No. 11/017948, filed on Dec. 22, 2004, granted, now 7,358,024. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2003-434185 (JP), filed on Dec. 26, 2003. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0149535 A1, Jun. 26, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. B02C 23/08 (2006.01); B02C 13/09 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 241—79.1 [241/189.1] | 3 Claims |

| 1. A batch-wise surface modifying apparatus for classifying a toner particle material powder and carrying out a treatment
for making toner particles spherical, the apparatus comprising:
a main-body casing;
a worktop having an open-close operability provided at a top of the main-body casing;
an introduction area through which the material powder is introduced into the main-body casing;
a classifying means having a classifying rotor by means of which fine powder and ultrafine powder having a particle diameter
not larger than a stated particle diameter are continuously removed from the material powder introduced into the main-body
casing;
a fine-powder discharge area through which the fine powder and ultrafine powder removed by the classifying means are discharged
out of the main-body casing;
a surface modifying means having a dispersing rotor and a liner such that particles contained in a finely pulverized product,
from which the fine powder and ultrafine powder have been removed, are subjected to a surface modification treatment using
a mechanical impact force;
a cylindrical guide means for forming a first space and a second space in the main-body casing; and
a toner particle discharge area through which the toner particles subjected to the surface modification treatment by the dispersing
rotor and the liner are discharged out of the main-body casing,
wherein the first space, which is provided between an inner wall of the main-body casing and an outer wall of the cylindrical
guide means, is a space through which the material powder and the toner particles, which have been surface-modified, are guided
to the classifying rotor,
wherein the second space is a space in which the material powder, from which the fine powder and ultrafine powder have been
removed, and the particles, which have been surface-modified, are treated by the dispersing rotor,
wherein, in the surface modifying apparatus, the material powder introduced into the main-body casing through the introduction
area is led into the first space, the fine powder and ultrafine powder having the particle diameter not larger than the stated
particle diameter are removed by the classifying means and continuously discharged out of the apparatus, and the material
powder, from which the fine powder and ultrafine powder have been removed, is moved to the second space and treated by the
dispersing rotor and the liner to carry out the surface modification treatment of the toner particles contained in the material
powder, and the material powder containing the toner particles that have been surface-modified are again circulated to the
first space and the second space to repeat the classification and the surface modification treatment, to thereby obtain toner
particles from which the fine powder and ultrafine powder having the particle diameter not larger than the stated particle
diameter have been removed at a quantity not more than a stated quantity and which have been surface-modified,
wherein the dispersing rotor has, at a top surface thereof, a plurality of rectangular disks,
wherein the dispersing rotor has an outer diameter of 120 mm or more,
wherein a minimum gap between the dispersing rotor and the liner is from 1.0 mm to 3.0 mm, and
wherein a number n of the rectangular disks provided at the top surface of the dispersing rotor and an external diameter D
of the dispersing rotor satisfy a relationship of expression (1):
π×D/n<95.0 (mm) (1).
|