16 US Patents Issued Related to Rapid Prototyping from 10/31 to 12/5

From: EdGrenda@aol.com
Date: Wed Jan 03 2001 - 18:42:47 EET


Good Morning:

A special edition of the RP Patent Alert Newsletter is now available on our
web site. At least sixteen RP patents were issued during just the last
month, maintaining the accelerated rate of the last quarter. Here are a few
highlights of the patents issued from 10/31/00 to 12/5/00:

* Micromod of Israel has received a patent on a method of fused deposition
modeling using a robotically articulated head system. The head has several
individual elements which are reminiscent of the Contour Crafting system
developed at USC.

* Sandia has been issued a patent for a variation on the Laser Engineered Net
Shaping process (LENS) that uses a wire material instead of a powder as the
feedstock. Sandia has called this the WireFeed (TM) method in papers and web
materials presented previously.

* EOS's Direct Croning (TM) method of selective laser sintering polymer
coated sand to form patterns has been granted a patent.

* A trend is developing for rapid prototyping to influence the design and
operation of components used in the various processes. Both 3D Systems and
DTM have received patents for laser operation or improvements.

* A variation on laminated object manufacturing has been developed with an
eye towards easier de-cubing. The process was developed in Korea and has
some features in common with Ennex's Genie Fabber.

* Additional patents have been granted to AlliedSignal (now Honeywell
International) for color stereolithography resins based on particle
scattering.

* The construction of steel rule dies by rapid prototyping continues to
develop with an additional patent granted to Rabinovich. This market segment
has been under development for several years by his Lowell, MA company, H&R
Technology, and is now being introduced commercially.

* The Fraunhofer Institute has received a patent which essentially adapts the
arterial systems of living organisms to the problem of cooling molding dies.
Stereolithography is a key element in building the tools.

There were numerous additional developments in tooling, inkjet methods,
materials, tissue engineering, etc. 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.

>From our home page,

<A HREF="http://home.att.net/~castleisland/">Worldwide Guide to Rapid
Prototyping</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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