According to the Cornell Research Foundation, 170 Cornell engineering students, faculty, and staff (including non-Cornell co-inventors) who have registered patents through that office are responsible for over 159 US patents as of March 1998. This does not include the patents by Cornellians who have applied for patents on their own. While this display does not have space to showcase all the inventions, it is still fascinating to see how patents have changed many fields, such as electronics, computers, medicine, semiconductors, nanotechnology, lasers and fiber optics, nondestructive testing, microwaves, and communications. Here is a small sampling of U.S. patents, old and new, that our colleagues in the College of Engineering have invented.
This exhibit was created by Jill H. Powell, Associate Engineering Librarian for Reference/Instruction, with generous assistance from Professor Emeritus Simpson Linke and Chris Standish, Patents and Technology Marketing. Comments about the exhibit may be sent to Jill at jhp1@cornell.edu.
 | Harris J. Ryan (Cornell Class of 1887, Professor 1888-1905 Professor and Mrs. Harris J. Ryan are in their automobile in Ithaca around 1888-1905. (Photo courtesy of Cornell University Library Rare and Manuscript Collections). Their car is believed to be an Oldsmobile. Professor Ryan patented a modification for a cathode-ray tube in 1906. Called an Electric Wave Form Tracer, the patent was granted on Nov. 6, 1906, no. 834,998, pictured in the exhibit. He had several other patents, including: US Patent 502,384 Dynamo-electric machine or motor, Aug. 1, 1893. US Patent 1,069,187 Method of means for measuring power in electric circuits, August 5, 1913. Harris J. Ryan graduated from Cornell in 1887. After working at Western Electric, he returned to Cornell in 1888 to join the faculty. Ryan taught almost all the electrical engineering courses at Cornell until he left in 1905 to go to Stanford. |
Malcolm McIlroy invented an electric network analyzer comprised of tungsten lamps to study flow in pipeline networks, such as water and gas. It was a visual system that displayed lights of varying degrees of intensity, depending on the fluid pressure of water (or gas) at various points in a municipal system. This analyzer was purchased by several cities in the United States.
US Patent 2,509,042, Electric Analyzer for Fluid Distribution Systems, May 23, 1950. Assignee: The Standard Electric Time Company
 | http://www.greatbatch.com Wilson Greatbatch is an inventor extraordinaire. He has over 47 US patents, and the figure goes to over 150 if his company and foreign inventions are included. His most famous invention is the world's first implantable cardiac pacemaker, shown in the picture. This invention can be credited with saving over 3 million lives. His company may well have one of the best employee benefit contracts. Wilson Greatbatch, Ltd., the largest manufacturer of implantable lithium batteries in the world, offers to pay full college tuition for the 370 employees and their children, wherever they want to go. He was inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1986. The picture is from Cornell Engineering Magazine, vol 2, no. 3, Fall 1996, p 6. US Patent 3,057,356 Medical Cardiac Pacemaker, October 9, 1962. Assignee: Wilson Greatbatch, Inc. |
Edwin L. Harder (EE 1956)
It is interesting to note that many computers were built originally for electric-power applications. Edwin Harder holds over 66 patents in the area of analog computing and power engineering (control of power, regulating, and relay systems). At Westinghouse he was responsible for the development of Anacom, (analog computer) in 1948, which had the capacity to model a complete power system and continued to be used until 1991. Several of his patents helped to keep Westinghouse solvent during the Depression years. Some major patents include:
HCB (high speed, current balance) Relay - for tripping the circuit breakers of transmission lines under short-circuit conditions. Invented in 1932, it is still widely in use. Patent number unknown.
US Patent 2,144,494 High-speed, distance-type carrier-pilot relay system to transmit messages over long power-transmission lines, Jan. 17, 1936. Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp.
US Patent 2,331,186 Linear coupler for bus protection, October 5, 1943. Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp. This was the best bus-fault protection for many years, and even today these devices are still in use.
US Patent 3,027,084 Economic dispatch computer, March 27, 1962. Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp. The computer simulated a power generating network comprising generators, transmission network, loads, and economic data, in order to optimize the generation of power in interconnected systems.
For further information about Edwin L. Harder, see Sparks of Genius: Portraits of Electrical Engineering Excellence, by Frederik Nebeker, New York: IEEE Press, 1994, p. 159-199.
Hwa C. Torng (Ph.D. 1960, Professor 1960+)
Computers now run 100,000 times faster than they did when the Anacom was invented, and chips contain around 7.5 million transistors. Torng's 1980s patent on instruction sorting has been key to the development of the fast Pentium chips in microprocessors now on the market in 1998. His chip architecture allows instructions to be sorted faster than ever before by allowing the processor to read instructions as they come in, to evaluate their relationship to one another very rapidly, and to execute immediately those instructions that don't need to wait. His patent has been licensed to Intel, who has used the architecture on their Pentium-Pro and Pentium II chips. They also plan to use it on their new chip, code-named Merced.
U.S. Patent 4807115 - Instruction issuing mechanism for processors with multiple functional units, Feb. 21, 1989. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
U.S. Patent 4383315 - Idle time slot seizure and transmission facilities for loop communication system, May 10, 1983. Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
Semiconductors
Charles A. Lee (Professor 1967-)
While at Bell Laboratories, Charles Lee received a patent together with William Shockley for the diffused-base transistor, which first demonstrated the feasibility of microwave transistor operation. He also received patents for the first InSb p-n junctions, the first Read-IMPATT structure, and the first high-speed-junction photomultiplier. Since coming to Cornell in 1967, he was involved in making the first Schottky barrier IMPATT diodes. With Cornell colleague Jeffrey Frey and students at the School of Electrical Engineering, he designed and constructed the first ion-implantation machine. He was one of the founders of the National Research & Resource Facility for Submicron Structures (now Cornell Nanofabrication Facility), and originated research there on ion-beam lithography. More recently he was the co-inventor (with G. Dalman and J. Berenz) of the Opposed Gate-Source Transistor, a thin-film millimeter-wave field-effect transistor.
US Patent 3,202,887 Mesa-transistor with impurity concentration in the base decreasing toward collector juntion. Inventors: Dacey, George C.; Lee, Charles A.; and Shockley, William, Aug. 24, 1965. Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc.
Other patents include:
US Patent 5,652,548 PTM signal generator combining outputs of two same-frequency oscillators, co-invented with G. Conrad Dalman, July 29, 1997. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,225,797 Dielectric Waveguide-to-Coplanar Transmission Line Transitions. Inventors: Dalman G Conrad; Lee Charles A; Schary Alison, July 6, 1993. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,40,020 Self-Aligned, High-Resolution Resonant Dielectric Lithography. Inventors: Lee Charles A; Rauschenbach Kurt, August 13, 1991. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,952,446 Ultra-Thin Semiconductor Membranes; Silicon Germanium, and Gallium Arsenide, Previously Etched, Doped, and Annealed. Inventors: Lee Charles A; Lee Kevin C; Silcox John, August 28, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,951,099 Opposed gate-source transistor. Inventors: Berenz, John J.; Dalman, G. Conrad; Lee, Charles A., Aug. 21, 1990. Assignee: TRW Inc. (Redondo Beach, CA)
US Patent 4,946,735 Ultra-Thin Semiconductor Membranes; Damage Thin Surface by Etching Semiconductor. Inventors: Lee, Charles A; Lee, Kevin C; Silcox, John,; August 7, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,898,804 Self-Aligned, High Resolution Resonant Dielectric Lithography. Inventors: Lee, Charles A; Rauschenbach, Kurt, Feb. 6, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,623,849 Broadband High Power Impatt Amplifier Circuit. Inventors: Dalman, G Conrad; Lee Charles A., Nov. 18, 1986. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,587,541 Monolithic Coplanar Waveguide Travelling Wave Transistor Amplifier. Inventors: Dalman, G Conrad; Lee, Charles A., May 6, 1986 Assignee:Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,551,904 Opposed gate-source transistor. Inventors: Berenz; John J. (Lawndale, CA); Dalman; G. Conrad Lee; Charles A., Nov. 12, 1985. Assignee: TRW Inc. (Redondo Beach, CA)
US Patent 3,466,441 Semiconductor infrared to visible light image converter. Inventors: Batdorf, Robert L; Lee, Charles A. Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc., September 9, 1969.
US Patent 3,264,149 Method of making semiconductor devices. Inventors: Batdorf, Robert L.; Lee, Charles A.; Wiegmann, W., Aug. 2, 1966. Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
US Patent 3,194,978 Strip line tunnel diode device utilized as single pole, multiple throw switch. Inventor: Lee, Charles A., July 13, 1965. Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc.
US Patent 3,109,109. Circuit employing negative resistance asymmetrically conducting devices connected in series randomly or sequentially switched. Inventor: Lee, Charles A., Oct. 29, 1963. Assignnee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc.
US Patent 3,082,127 Fabrication of PN junction devices. Inventors: Lee, Charles A.; White, H. G., March 19, 1963. Assignnee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc.
US Patent 3,054,972 Negative resistance semiconductor device. Inventor: Lee, Charles A. Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc., September 18, 1962.
Yu-Hwa Lo (Professor 1991+)
Yu-Hwa Lo has 5 patents in the field of semiconductors and lasers. In the New York Times on March 28, 1997, Professor Lo's latest patent application was hailed as potentially revolutionizing the semiconductor industry. He has developed a compliant universal substrate (or base), on which pure, single crystals of almost any semiconducting material can be grown. Such a development could lead to many new types of semiconductors used in computer chips, sensors, lasers, switches, data storage devices and other uses and could reduce the cost of making electronic components. This discovery could open the door to the possibility of different types of semiconductors operating at the same time on the same motherboard.
US Patent 5,617,436 Strain-compensated multiple quantum well laser structure, Apr. 1, 1997. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,615,143 Optomechanical terabit data storage system, co-inventor Noel MacDonald, Mar. 25, 1997. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,491,710 Strain-compensated multiple quantum well laser structures , Feb. 13, 1996. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,294,808 Pseudomorphic and dislocation free heteroepitaxial structures, May 15, 1994. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,207,864 Low-temperature fusion of dissimilar semiconductors, co-inventor Bhat; Rajaram, Mary 4, 1993. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
Nanofabrication and Nanotechnology
Edward D. Wolf (Professor 1978+)
Edward Wolf, along with Professor John Sanford (Horticultural Sciences) and staff member Nelson Allen are known for their patent of the "gene gun," a biolistic particle delivery system, which allows one to propel DNA into individual cells. This procedure was originally used in plants, but the practice has spread to use in animals as well. In 1994, scientists successfully treated cancer in mice by using a gene gun loaded with foreign genetic material. This technique has been of enormous importance to biotechnologists in their research. Medical practitioners may one day use gene guns as drug therapy or as a way to battle genetic disorders.
Edward Wolf writes "Two of our inventions (one of our early gene gun protoypes and a more recent version of the gene gun manufactured by Bio-Rad, which has the sublicense from DuPont to make the Biolistics apparatus) are on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. They are part of the Science in American Life Exhibit in the The National Museum of American History. Also one of our gene guns in on display at the Epcot Center, Disney World, Orlando, FL. When we, Biolistics, Inc., sold our biolistics apparatus and technology rights to DuPont in 1990 it provided, at that time, the largest single royalty payment to Cornell University on record. Cornell Research Foundation had taken a small equity interest in our company at the time we licensed our patents from Cornell to create our company, Biolistics, Inc., in 1986. "
"In terms of agricultural applications of the gene gun, as early as 1992, the Wall Street Journal highlighted several companies that had transgenic seed corn with specific traits made possible by the Biolistics process. Since then many other companies now offer transgenic seed supplies of rice, wheat, soybeans etc. Sanford Scientific, Geneva, NY (John Sanford's Company) is now researching and producing genetically modified ornamentals - plants, trees, shrubs, grasses etc."
US Patent 4,945,050 Method for transporting substances into living cells and tissues and apparatus therefor. Inventors: Sanford, John C.; Wolf, Edward D.; and Allen, Nelson K., July 31,1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
Abstract: Inert or biologically active particles are propelled at cells at a speed whereby the particles penetrate the surface of the cells and become incorporated into the interior of the cells. The process can be used to mark cells or tissue or to biochemically affect tissues or tissue in situ as well as single cells in vitro. Apparatus for propelling the particles toward target cells or tissues are also disclosed. A method for releasing particles adhered to a rotor device is also disclosed.
US Patent 4,958,074 Apparatus and Method for Inspecting a Mask. Inventors: Edward Wolf, Ernst Hammel, Christian Traher., Sep. 18, 1990. Asignees: Oesterreichische Investitionskredit Aktiengesellschaft; IMS IonenMikrofabrikations Syteme Gesellschaft M.B.H., both of Vienna, Austria.
US Patent 5,371,015 Apparatus for transporting substances into living cells and tissues. Inventors: Sanford, John C:,. Wolf, Edward D.; and Allen, Nelson K., Dec. 6, 1994. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,179,022 Biolistic apparatus for delivering substances into cells and tissues in a non-lethal manner. Inventors: Sanford, John C:,. Wolf, Edward D.;, and Allen, Nelson K., Jan. 12, 1993. Assignee: E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co.
US Patent 5,100,792 Method for transporting substances into living cells and tissues. Inventors: Sanford, John C.; Wolf, Edward D.; and Allen, Nelson K, March 31, 1992. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,036,006 Method for transporting substances into living cells and tissues and apparatus therefor. Inventors: Sanford, John C.; Wolf, Edward D.; and Allen, Nelson K, Jul. 30, 1991. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,945,050 Method for transporting substances into living cells and tissues and apparatus therefor. Inventors: Sanford, John C.; Wolf, Edward D.; and Allen, Nelson K, Jul. 31, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,123,661 Contrast enhancement of electron beam alignment marks. Inventors: Perkins, Walter E. Jr.; Wolf, Edward D., April 8, 1977. Assignee: Hughes Aircraft Co.
US Patent 3,873,371 Small geometry charge coupled device and process for fabricating same. Inventors: Wolf, Edward D., Nov., 7, 1972. Assignee: Hughes Aircraft Co.
Noel MacDonald (Professor, 1995+)
Noel MacDonald is listed as an inventor on 28 US patents relating to nanostructure fabrication He was instrumental in combining Auger electron spectroscopy with scanning electron microscopy and in developing the scanning Auger. His research group has focused on fabricating MEMS (microelectromechanical systems)-based devices; fabricating massively parallel tip structures and microactuators for atomic-scale and molecular-scale manipulation, and fabricating micro-instrumentation for nanometer-scale characterization of materials and nanostructures. Noel MacDonald was director of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility from 1996 to 1998.
US Patent 5,449,903 Methods of Fabricating Integrated, Aligned Tunneling Tip Pairs. Inventors: MacDonald, Noel C; Arney, Susanne C.; and Yao, Jun J., Sept 12, 1995. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
Lasers and Fiber Optics
Clifford R. Pollock (Professor 1983+)
Clifford Pollock, the Ilda and Charles Lee Professor of Engineering, is listed as an inventor on 5 US patents regarding the development and application of tunable solid-state lasers. These lasers are applied to problems in ultrashort-pulse generation, semiconductor spectroscopy, and optical-fiber transmission. His group has developed several significant color-center lasers that operate in the 1.5-micron region using alkali halides such as sodium chloride and potassium chloride.
He participated in the discovery of the means to generate ultrashort optical pulses based on additive pulse modelocking of the color-center laser. The wavelength of the color-center laser allows one to probe optical materials, such as GaInAs, which are important optical materials for telecommunications systems.
In related work, his group is developing nanofabrication techniques to pattern thin ceramic and glass waveguides to make optical waveguide structures suitable for use in optical systems.
US Patent 4,991,924 Optical switches using cholesteric or chiral nematic liquid crystals and method of using same. Inventors: Shankar, Narendra K.; Morris, Jeffrey A.; Pollock, Clifford R.; Yakymyshyn, Christopher P.; and Whitehead, T. Wilson, Feb. 12, 1991. Assignees are Cornell Research Foundation, Inc) and E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.
US Patent 4,990,322 NaCl:OH color center laser. Inventors: Pollock, Clifford R.; Pinto, Joseph F.; Georgiou, Efstratios, Feb. 5, 1991. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,964,133 Lasers in alkali halides using N and R color-centers. Inventors: Pollock, Clifford R.; Zook; Brian J.; Morris, Jeffrey A, Oct 16, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,947,035 Fiber optic transducer using faraday effect. Inventors: Zook, Brian J.; Pollock, Clifford R.; Morris; Jeffrey A., Aug 7, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,839,009 NaCl: on color center laser. Inventors: Pollock, Clifford R.; Pinto, Joseph F.; Georgiou, Efstratios. June 13, 1989. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
Chung L Tang (Professor 1964+)
The Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chung Tang holds 20 US patents. His research centers on new optical materials and processes that are suitable for application in the generation, modulation, and detection of electromagnetic radiation from the infrared to the ultraviolet. Emphasis is on lasers, electro-optic devices, and nonlinear and coherent optical processes.
US Patent 5,377,043 Saphhire-pumped high repetition rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator. Inventors: Pelouch, Wayne S.; Powers, Peter E.; Tang, Chung L.; December 27, 1994. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.
US Patent 5,053,641 Tunable optical parametric oscillator. Inventors: Cheng, Lap K.; Bosenber, Walter R.; Tang, Chung L.; Oct. 1, 1991. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.
Watt W. Webb - (Professor 1961+)
Watt Webb is listed on 11 US patents. His research concerns the dynamics of biophysical processes in living cells using modern physical optics. The imaging of the dynamics of molecular processes in living cells is made possible by nonlinear laser scanning microscopy. Research in physical optics has provided a differential microinterferometer to measure motions of microscopic organelles at the picometer level, and image-analysis techniques that allow observation and tracking of individual molecules on living cells with nanometer sensitivity. Nonlinear two-photon laser scanning microscopy, which can image, with intrinsic three-dimensional resolution, the distribution of sparse chemical markers deep within living cells, is his group's most recent creation (see patent). This invention has led into nonlinear photophysics research, particularly on multiphoton molecular processes excited by trains of 100-femtosecond pulses from modelocked lasers.
US Patent 5,034,613 Two-Photon Laser Microscopy. Inventors: Denk, Winifried; Strickler, James P.; Webb, Watt W., July 23, 1991, Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.
Nondestructive Testing
Mary J. Sansalone (Ph.D. 1986, Professor 1987+)
Mary Sansalone, a recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, is an inventor of a patent for an impact-echo field-test system, which is used world-wide in the non-destructive testing of concrete and masonry structures. It utilizes sound waves to find flaws in concrete without damaging the structure as traditional testing procedures do.
Her research interests include the use of transient stress waves for evaluating heterogeneous materials and structures, the use of numerical methods for studying stress-wave propagation in bounded solids containing flaws, and the use of artificial intelligence techniques for automating impact-echo signal analysis. Recently-completed and current studies involve using stress waves for detecting flaws in concrete dams, post-tensioned concrete structures, and in historic structures, as well as detecting damage in concrete due to expansive forces caused by the alkalai-silica reaction and delayed ettringite formation. Other projects explore the use of audible sounds to aid in interpretation of impact-echo patterns and the use of reliability-based methods in planning and evaluating the results of nondestructive tests in structural investigations.
US 5,156,270 Non-Destructive Materials Testing Apparatus and Technique for Use in the Field. Inventors: Sansalone, Mary J.; Patt, Donald G., November 24, 1992. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
Microwaves
G. Conrad Dalman (Professor 1956+ ; Emeritus, 1987+)
Conrad Dalman had fourteen years of industrial experience at RCA, Bell Laboratories, and Sperry Gyroscope before coming to Cornell in 1956. He is listed on 6 patents with Professor Charles A. Lee (see section on "Semiconductors"). His other patents, listed below, are in the field of microwave electronics. His research has been on electron devices; solid-state microwave and millimeter-wave devices; electrical noise problems; microwave subsystems, and physical electronics.
US Patent 5,262,739 Waveguide Adaptors. Inventor: Dalman, G Conrad, Jan. 30, 1992. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 5,017,892 Waveguide Adaptors and Gunn Oscillators Using the Same. Inventor: Dalman, G Conrad, Feb. 7, 1990. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,680,538 Millimeter Wave Vector Network Analyzer. Inventors: Dalman, G. Conrad; Kondoh, Hiroshi. Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
US Patent 4,575,700 Parallel Plate Transmission Lines Integrated with Coplanar Waveguides or Slot Lines and Method of Making Same. Inventor: Dalman, G. Conrad, April 17, 1984. Assignee Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
Communications
Irwin Jacobs, (BEE 1956)
President and CEO of Qualcomm, Inc., in San Diego, Irwin Jacobs is a leader in cellular phone technology. He pioneered an advanced digital wireless systems known as CDMA. Prior to leading Qualcomm since 1985, Jacobs was a professor at MIT and University of California, San Diego, and president of Linkabit Corporation. See http://www.qualcomm.com/. Here is a list of his 8 patents:
US Patent 5,715,236 System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system
US Patent 5,416,797 System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system
US Patent 5,309,474 System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system
US Patent 5,126,748 Dual satellite navigation system and method
US Patent 5,103,459 System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system
US Patent 5,017,926 Dual satellite navigation system
US Patent 4,979,170 Alternating sequential half duplex communication system
US Patent 4,901,307 Spread spectrum multiple access communication system using satellite or terrestrial repeaters
References
Sources for this display include:
Faculty web pages from http://www.engr.cornell.edu
Research in Engineering and Applied Science, Cornell University, Summer 1990
Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Engineering
Cornell Engineering Magazine
Sparks of Genius: Portraits of Electrical Engineering Excellence, by Frederik Nebeker, New York: IEEE Press, 1994, p. 159-199.
Photos from Engineering Publications and Cornell University Library Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections
jhp1@cornell.edu, 5/11/98
