Patent awards plunge in 2008

Add comment December 11th, 2008

A run through the U.S. Patent Offie’s search engine for November showed just six patents won by local inventors.

For the year, people in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties have been awarded just 103 patents. In 2006, locals won 144 patents and in 2007 our inventors were awarded 157 patents, the most since 1999.

Since it takes at least 12 to 18 months to win a patent, the total of patents awarded this year is the result of work done in 2006 and 2007. Still, it can be a bad sign that patent awards are down this year because those years were strong ones, especially 2006, for the economy.

Here’s November’s list:

Patents are listed under the date issued by patent number, description of invention, inventor (name and city of residence) and then by assignee, which is the firm that owns the patent, if any.

November 4
7,446,593, power supply with programmable fuse for mode selection, Kilian; Wayne T. (Richardson, Texas), Hall; Jeffrey S. (Winnebago), Furio; Ryan R. (West Chicago), Chilcote; Jason M. (Frisco, Texas), Honeywell International Inc. (Morristown, N.J.)
7,448,034, build time determination and installation of drivers on cloned systems, Anderson; Timothy M. (Rockford), Baumann; Warren J. (Monroe, N.Y.), International Business Machines Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.)

November 11
7,448,227, vehicle air conditioning and heating method providing engine on and engine off operation, Zeigler; Terry (Byron), Elias; Eric (Loves Park), Bergstrom Inc. (Rockford)
7,448,373, adjustment mechanism to adjust gap between grilling surfaces, Hill; David A. (Rockton), Frisque; Robert E. (Milton, Wis.), Nelson; Dennis J. (Rockford), Carrier Commercial Refrigeration Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.)

November 18
7,453,678, power interruption system for electronic circuit breaker, Beneditz; Bruce D. (Roscoe), Kilroy; Donald G. (Rockford)    Hamilton Sunstrand Corp. (Rockford)

November 25
7,454,922, vehicle air conditioning and heating method providing engine on and engine off operation, Zeigler; Terry (Byron), Elias; Eric (Loves Park), Bergstrom, Inc. (Rockford)

Following Blago’s money

Add comment December 11th, 2008

Coming from this area and it isn’t much. According to federal prosecutors, Gov. Rod Blagojevich had put a price tag on just about everything he was in control of.

In the next few months, we’re likely to see several stories of the various schemes and pressure Blago’s people applied to get contracts through or funding. A quick look at how much money was contributed to the governor from people or businesses in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties shows it’s unlikely that any of those stories will touch Rockford.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Rock River Valley donors have given Blagojevich just $245,358.10 from 2002 through 2008.

The vast majority of the money was donated by noted Democratic activist Sunil Puri. Individually, Puri has given the governor $103,734.70. His wife, Jenine Cannell-Puri donated $25,000, and First Rockford Group gave $18,542. It’s fair to note, though, that a look through the archives doesn’t show any local Puri projects that benefitted from state action.

The next biggest donor on the list is $8,500 total in 2002 and 2003 from the Northwestern Illinois Contractors Association.