Greetings:
The RP Patent Alert Newsletter is now available on our web site as a FREE
SERVICE. This formerly subscription-only Newsletter covers all facets of RP
including, processes, materials, all types of applications, tooling and
production, and software. Issues for the last four quarters are now posted.
There were 24 utility patents issued during the last quarter through 8/1/00
that either describe advances in RP technology or impact markets that
directly affect the field. Here are a few highlights:
* Several patents have been issued for manufacturing processes using inkjet
printing. These cover a diverse product range including fluidic and medical
devices, organic semiconductors and even inkjet printheads themselves.
* Patents continue to pile up in oil well drilling technology. RP allows
economic manufacture of custom products in the field and there's now a
significant portfolio of work in this area.
* The University of Florida has received a patent for a rapid prototyping
system based on xerography. Other patents issued this quarter to Delsys
Pharmaceuticals use similar electrostatic technology for manufacture of
medications in direct competition with Therics, Inc., licensee of MIT's Three
Dimensional Printing technology.
* A basic patent for the Rapid Solidification Process (RSP) has been issued
to Bechtel. Reportedly, this technology permits extremely rapid fabrication
of tooling from various RP master patterns with high density and resolution.
* Coloration of stereolithography resins through the use of diffractive
particles is described by AlliedSignal. This could be method of separating
photo reactions from coloration in future color stereolithography systems.
* Stratasys has received a patent for soluble support structures.
Interesting details about materials and chemistry are disclosed.
There were numerous additional developments including photopolymers,
composites, systems and software improvements, etc. You will find many
thought provoking inventions in this group. If you're involved with the
development of RP technology in industry or academia, you should find this an
easy and fun way to keep up to date.
If you're under the impression it would be easy to get this information any
other way - try it! There were more than 40,000 US patents issued during the
quarter. Please let us know if we missed anything!
>From our home page,
<A HREF="http://home.att.net/~castleisland/">Worldwide Guide to Rapid
Prototyping Resources</A>
[ if that's not visible as a link: http://home.att.net/~castleisland/ ]
click the PATENTS button or use the direct link on that page.
Ed Grenda
Castle Island Co.
19 Pondview Road
Arlington, MA 02474 USA
781-646-6280 (voice or fax)
EdGrenda@aol.com (email)
http://home.att.net/~castleisland/
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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