Patent of the Month – Self-Replicating Materials

Darrell Mann

Here’s one we first started tracking back in 2012. Most ‘self-‘ solutions are interesting. This one seemed to offer up more than most. The ultimate factory! Now, as of December 8, the patent has been granted. US9,206,471 was … Read More

Patent of the Month – Negative Refractive Index Meta-Materials

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month takes into another foray into the realm of so-called ‘negative materials’. Or, as seems to be becoming more popular, ‘left-handed materials’. Which has a certain ring to it, if you happen to … Read More

Patent of the Month – Bioelectrochemical Bioremediation

Darrell Mann

Some months are better than others. Some weeks are better than others. The first week of September saw a swarm of below-average patents. The second week, on the other hand gave us several candidates for this Patent of … Read More

Patent of the Month – Joining Dissimilar Materials

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to a quartet of inventors at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Washington State. US10,369,748 was awarded to the team on August 6. The invention takes us on a rare … Read More

Patent of the Month – Plasmonic Structures

Darrell Mann

We head to the University of Manchester for our patent of the month this month. US10,345,490 was granted on July 9 to a trio of inventors, two of whom are Nobel-Prize winners. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novos won … Read More

Patent of the Month – Fusion Power (Almost)

Darrell Mann

For the most part, the words ‘nuclear’ and ISIS don’t really belong in the same sentence these days. Fortunately, the ISIS in question here is ISIS Innovation Ltd, an offshoot of Oxford University. I’m assuming the company was … Read More

Patent of the Month – Strengthening Member

Darrell Mann

We head to the Motor City for our patent of the month this month, to a trio of inventors at Ford. Their strengthening-member patent, US10,279, 842, was granted on 7 May. Here’s what the trio has to say … Read More

Patent of the Month – Nerve Stimulation Method

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to the New Jersey-based enterprise, Electrocore LLC. US10,252,074 was granted to a trio of inventors at the company on 10 April. The company has been around and offering non-invasive … Read More

Patent of the Month – Microbial Fuel Cell

Darrell Mann

Microbial fuel-cells (MFC) have been around for over a century now, but they’ve never quite made the grade in terms of practical, commercially viable applications. Which is perhaps odd given the fact that they offer the potential to … Read More

Patent of the Month – Fabric Supercapacitor

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to Austin, and a trio of inventors at the University of Texas. US10,199,180 was granted on February 5. Here’s what the background description has to say about the problem … Read More

Patent of the Month – Hysteresis Bearing-less Motor

Darrell Mann

It was a close-run thing for our Patent of the Month award this month. We nearly gave the honour to US10,177,688 from a joint university/industry foundation in Korea. It offers the world the potential for a really simple, … Read More

Patent of the Month – High Refractive Index Nanocomposite

Darrell Mann

A rare trip to Maryland for our patent of the month this month. US10,144,482 was granted to a trio of inventors at Pixelligent Technologies (pixelligent.com) on December 4. Here’s what they have to say about the problem addressed … Read More

Patent of the Month – Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma

Darrell Mann

Our Patent of the Month this month takes us to Taiwan, and a quartet of inventors at the National Chiao Tung University. US 10,121,638 was granted on November 6. In a wonderfully succinct write-up (5 pages of narrative), … Read More

Patent of the Month – Robotic Bouncing Ball

Darrell Mann

Well, I never expected to be featuring a patent assigned to Disney in this section of the ezine, but here we are. Never say never. I suppose, too, the presence of California Institute of Technology has a bearing … Read More

Patent of the Month – Electro-Manipulation of Cells

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month comes from a sextet of inventors at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. US10,070,914 was granted on September 11, and primarily seems to concern the treatment of cancer cells, but it would … Read More

Patent of the Month – Tissue Preservation System

Darrell Mann

Currently, doctors have to throw away more than 80 percent of donated tissue used for joint replacements because the tissue does not survive long enough to be transplanted. Now, following a recent study, University of Missouri School of … Read More

Patent of the Month – Metabolic Transistor In Bacteria

Darrell Mann

We head to Texas for our patent of the month this month, to a trio of inventors at William Marsh Rice University. Their invention was granted as US10,011,839 on July 3rd. Here’s what they have to say about … Read More

Patent of the Month – Reducing Ice Crystal Formation

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month is US9,986,733, granted to Bay Area start-up, X-Therma (x-therma.com, ‘biomimetic nanotech’) on the 5th of June. Here’s what the company has to say about the problem being solved in their invention:

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Patent of the Month – Graduated Auxetic Foam

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month sticks to the world of ‘keep-it-simple’, and also manages to stay local. My old haunt, Rolls-Royce in Bristol to be precise, and a pair of inventors who had US9,956,729 granted … Read More

Patent of the Month – Microfluidic Desalination

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month takes us to a trio of inventors at the University of Texas. US9,932,251 was granted on April 3. The wonderfully succinct background description describes the motivation for the invention as follows:

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