-INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-
Utility and Design Patents
Plastic Design Engineering provides detailed, in-depth patent and design background research. We offer this service as part of a feasibility study, or as a stand-alone service. I have prosecuted many of my own patents (35 issued US Patents) including all necessary patent drawings. I’m very familiar with the process of working with the Patent Examiners, Patent Lawyers and the research and background information necessary to obtain both Utility and Design patents. I work under the strictest confidentiality.
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea ,never regains its original dimensions” Oliver Wendell Holmes
Intellectual Property for Sale or License
Intellectual property protected by a Patent is one of the most valued assets of the 21st century company. It’s an asset that can be sold, exchanged, licensed and even litigated in our legal system.
Plastic Design Engineering intellectual property includes issued utility patents for the development of a new 2 Material Ergonomic Pipette Tip. Below is a short summary of some of the problems associated with current products in the marketplace and how they can be improved with this new patented technology.
Ergonomic Pipette Tips
Long-term pipette operations where Pipette Tip ejection forces can exceed 16 pounds can lead to repetitive strain injuries (RSI), such as carpal tunnel syndrome or cumulative trauma disorder (CTD). These disorders can affect muscles, tendons, joints and nerves which produce pain and swelling. These disorders may also cause significant reductions in accuracy and repeatability by altering the proper pipetting techniques that are crucial to achieving optimal accuracy. Ergonomic disorders are the fastest growing category of work-related injuries.
Plastic Design Engineering is a pioneer in the 2 material Ergonomic Pipette Tip. The new Ergonomic Tip includes a chemical resistant Polypropylene shaft with a soft elastomeric upper housing. This soft upper housing creates a leak proof seal with the Pipettor Barrel while also reducing the ejection force necessary to eject the pipette tip from its barrel from over 16 lbs to approximately 1 lb. This is especially beneficial in reducing RSI and CTD injuries while improving the accuracy and precision with both single and Multi-Channel pipettors.
Another benefit of the 2 material Ergonomic Tip is its use with Multi-Channel Pipettors. Normal pipette tip racks (8×12) are made up of 96 separate Pipette Tips. If we were to mold 8 or 12 Ergonomic Pipette tips together in line as one Ergonomic Tip module, this would reduce the amount of parts necessary to fill a standard pipette tip tray by 90% and reduce the cost considerably while increasing performance.
The reason this is possible is the addition of the soft upper housing elastomeric material allowing the inline Ergonomic Tip Module to adjust, center and seal with the Multi-Channel pipettor barrels providing the sealing capability that a one material tip could not provide.
Membrane Pipette Tips
In the early development of pipettors with disposable pipette tips there was little research done on the cross-contamination between single use disposable pipette tips. However as testing procedures advanced such as with the development of PCR, cross-contamination became a major problem.
The solution at the time was to insert a porous plastic filter into the pipette tip providing a barrier between the sample and the pipettor barrel. These porous plastic filters however had manufacturing limitation that limited there size from 20 – 40 microns while some contaminated particles can be as small as .5 microns. Whether you’re pipetting genomic material, bacterial samples or other precious samples, the risk of cross-contamination from aerosols created during pipetting is always of concern.
This is why Plastic Design Engineering developed the first Membrane Pipette Tip. Membranes are known to provide protection down to .3 microns providing a 99.9% HEPA protection against cross-contamination while also being designed to be hydrophobic in nature and can be insert molded. The new Ergonomic Pipette Tip being a 2 part design lends itself to the insertion of the membrane between the molding of the shaft (First Part) and the soft upper housing (Second Part) creating the first Ergonomic Membrane Pipette Tip. This new Tip is hermetically molded and ejected from the injection mold tool in a sterile condition ready to be packaged and shipped without any secondary operations.
This concept can also be extended in molding 8 or 12 Ergonomic Membrane Tips together for use with the Multi-Channel Pipettors. Existing filter pipette tip racks have 96 porous plastic filters installed into 96 pipette tips or 192 individual parts. By insert molding the membrane into the Ergonomic Membrane Pipette Tip module consisting of 8 tips you have reduce your piece parts from 192 to 12 individual Ergonomic Membrane Modules. Thus reducing not only the amount of parts necessary by 94% but improving the filtration and creating a superior product at a reduced cost.