Patents received Oct. 26, 2004

Bayer Materialscience LLC and Bayer Aktiengesellschaft for "Moisture-curable, polyether urethanes with reactive silane groups and their use as sealants, adhesive and coatings, No. 6,809,170." Inventors were Richard R. Roesler, Wexford; Derek L. Crawford, Oakdale; Kurt C. Frisch, Upper St. Clair; Karsten Danielmeier, Solingen-Burg, Germany; Dinesh Pethiyagoda, Pittsburgh; Gerhard Ruttmann, Burscheid, Germany. The present invention relates to a process for preparing moisture-curable urethanes containing reactive silane groups from polyether polyols having a low degree of unsaturation and to the use of these polyurethanes as sealants, adhesives and coatings.

Seagate Technology LLC for "Write head with magnetization controlled by spin-polarized electron current, No. 6,809,900." Inventor was Mark William Covington, Pittsburgh. This invention relates to magnetic devices, and more particularly, to write heads for use in disk drives. Thin film recording heads include a writer and a reader that respectively record and detect magnetic domains in a disk that spins below the head. The writer in a conventional recording head includes a soft ferromagnetic yoke that is wrapped around a coil of one or more turns. Writers operate by passing an electrical current through the coil, which produces a magnetic field that aligns the yoke magnetization along the field direction. The magnetization rotates such that, for a longitudinal writer, a magnetic field extends mainly between the pole tips but also partly into the media. For a perpendicular writer, a soft underlayer is typically employed such that the write field extends between the pole tip and soft underlayer. When the write field exceeds the coercivity and demagnetization field of the media, a domain forms with its magnetization aligned along the write field direction. These domains form the bits of digital data that are detected with the read head.

The United States of America, Washington, D.C., for "Non-directional magnet field based proximity receiver with multiple warning and machine shutdown capability, No. 6,810,353." Inventor was William H. Schiffbauer, Pittsburgh. The present invention relates generally to a system for protecting individuals engaged in activity around operating machinery and, more particularly, to a personnel warning and machinery disabling system for alerting and protecting individuals straying into a hazardous zone in a mine and/or straying too close to operating machinery.

Patents received Nov. 2, 2004

United States Steel Corp. for "Method for production of dual phase sheet steel, No. 6,811,624." Inventor was David Paul Hoydick, Pittsburgh. Dual phase galvanized steel strip is made utilizing a thermal profile involving a two-tiered isothermal soaking and holding sequence. The strip is at a temperature close to that of the molten metal when it enters the coating bath.

The Louis Berkman Co. for "Corrosion-resistant coated metal and method for making the same, No. 6,811,891." Inventors were Jay F. Carey II, Follansbee, W.Va.; Mehrooz Zamanzadeh, Pittsburgh; Nicholas R. Hesske, Weirton, W.Va. The present invention relates to the art of corrosion-resistant metal materials such as a corrosion-resistant metal made of a corrosion-resistant metal alloy or a base metal which is coated with a corrosion resistant metal alloy, which corrosion-resistant metal materials can be used in a wide variety of applications such as, but not limited to, architectural or building materials such as roofing materials, siding materials, window frames, sheet metal, metal plates and the like; truck and automotive products such as, but not limited to, gasoline tanks, filter casings, body molding, body parts and the like; household products such as, but not limited to, appliance housings, electrical housings, light fixtures and the like; marine products such as, but not limited to, boat hulls, boat masts, dock system components; and/or other types of metal materials such as, but not limited to, tools, machinery, wires, cables, electrodes, solder and the like.

Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. for "Assay for identifying inhibitors of HIV RT dimerization, No. 6,811,970." Inventors were Nicolas Sluis-Cremer and Michael Parniak, both of Pittsburgh; and Alex Pelletier, Fabreville, Calif. The present invention relates to a new assay to measure the process of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) dimerization. This invention particularly relates to a new method suitable for adaptation to high-throughput screening for inhibitors of this process.

Sunoco, Inc. for "Manufacturing inorganic polymer hybrids, No. 6,812,273." Inventors were Thomas S. Brima, late of Pittsburgh; Gwendolyn Hawk, Pittsburgh; Masaki Fujii, Sewickley; Seyhun Kim, Murrysville; George R. Gallaher, Jr., Oakmont; Edwin B. Townsend IV, New Kensington; Kimberly M. McLoughlin, Gibsonia. This invention relates in general to methods of producing inorganic polymer hybrids. More specifically, this invention relates to methods of producing inorganic polymer hybrids by inducing nanoscale exfoliation of an inorganic component.

Carnegie Mellon University for "Low oxygen affinity mutant hemoglobins, No. 6,812,328." Inventors were Chien Ho, Tong-Jian Shen, Ching-Hsuan Tsai, all of Pittsburgh; and Tsuei-Yun Fang, Yunlin, Taiwan. This invention relates generally to novel mutant hemoglobins and more particularly relates to recombinant mutant hemoglobins "rHb (.beta.N108Q)" (alternative designation "rHb (.beta.108Asn.fwdarw.G1n)") and "rHb (.beta.L105W)" (alternative designation "rHb (.beta.L105Leu.fwdarw.Trp") that possess low oxygen affinity and high cooperativity in oxygen binding. In particular, rHb (.beta.N108Q) exhibits increased resistance to autoxidation as compared with other known low oxygen affinity mutants. This invention further relates to the preparation of mutant hemoglobins using recombinant DNA technology that are useful as substitutes for red blood cells and for hemoglobin-based therapeutics.