Patently Speaking highlights the technological achievements of Fort Wayne area residents
Process, method and system for removing mercury from fluids
•U.S. Patent No. 7,901,585
•Invented by Larry J. Lehtinen, Two Harbors, Minn., and Jeffrey A. Hansen, Fort Wayne
•Assigned to Ferro LLC, Gilbert, Minn.
Mercury is an important element used in thermometers and barometers. Unfortunately, it can also be a pollutant if present in sufficient amounts.
Industrial furnaces and municipal plants may emit mercury in flue gases or wastewater into the atmosphere, rivers or streams.
Too much mercury can be particularly detrimental to aquatic life. Furthermore, when mercury gets into the fish we eat, it that can be dangerous. So obviously, removing mercury from gas or wastewater before it contaminates our atmosphere, rivers or streams is a good thing.
This patent describes a process for removing mercury from air or liquid by combining them with an admixture of sorbent reagents including taconite tailings.
Taconite is an ore that contains iron and other elements. It is a waste product in certain metal manufacturing processes so it is inexpensive and readily available.
The taconite absorbs the mercury, thereby removing it from the air or water before escaping to the environment.
Paintball marker with user selectable firing modes
•U.S. Patent No. 7,900,622
•Invented by Jeffrey P. Douglas and Dennis J. Tippmann Jr., Fort Wayne
•Assigned to Tippmann Sports LLC, Fort Wayne
This new paintball gun is electronically operated. Instead of using a conventional mechanical mechanism for opening an air valve to fire a paintball, this gun uses electronics. But that’s not all.
Using electronics opens up a new world of firing options or “modes” for the paintball gun.
This patent describes a whole range of firing modes. For example, the first mode may be a standard safety mode preventing the gun from firing when the trigger is pulled. And the second mode may be a conventional, semiautomatic mode where a paintball fires every time the trigger is pulled. But that’s only the beginning. The gun may be switched to a full automatic mode where the gun fires in rapid succession by just pulling the trigger. There may be a three-round, burst mode where three rounds are automatically fired when pulling the trigger. The options are almost endless.
Even the rate at which the paintball gun fires may be fine tuned, either faster or slower. By simply moving a selector switch and then using the trigger as a toggle, any one of the several modes may be selected.
The preceding are lay descriptions of patents obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s public records and are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing contained herein is a legal description of any claimed invention, identification of novelty, or offer of legal advice. Because issued patents are based on applications often filed years earlier, the subject matter of some patents may have been available on the market for some time prior to the issuance of the patent. Additional information on these patents is available at www.uspto.gov.
