Patents Represented by Attorney Carolyn V. Peters
  • Patent number: 6037019
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for adhering a powder to a substrate. The process includes the steps of: a) providing an oscillating magnetic field, b) continuously introducing into the magnetic field coating material, a substrate, and a means of affixing the coating material to the substrate by forming a fluidized bed of at least the coating material and providing sufficient force to cause the coating material to adhere to the surface of the substrate, and c) continuously collecting the coated substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Richard L. Kooyer, William A. Hendrickson
  • Patent number: 6013149
    Abstract: A pad comprising a plurality of flexible sheets in a stack, and padding means for releasably adhering parts of the major surfaces of adjacent sheets in the stack together to maintain the sheets in the stack. That padding means is provided in that at least some of said sheets having patterns of coadhesive coated on their major surfaces, which patterns of coadhesive are adhered to patterns of coadhesive on adjacent sheets in the stack and releasably adhere parts of the major surfaces of adjacent sheets in the stack together in surface to surface relationship until the patterns of coadhesive are peeled apart.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Lee A. Timmerman, Randall M. Mills, Michael S. Groess, Robert P. Molenda
  • Patent number: 6013722
    Abstract: Water resistant, low haze acrylic emulsion pressure sensitive adhesive compositions for use in decorative, light management or optical articles are disclosed. These emulsion pressure sensitive adhesives comprise (a) 50-90% by weight n-butyl acrylate, and (b) 10-50% by weight 2-hydroxy ethyl acrylate, or 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate, hydroxy propyl acrylate monomer, or mixtures thereof. These emulsion pressure sensitive adhesives can be used in wet lamination processes, and exhibit less than 2% increase in haze, less than 2% increase in opacity and greater than 95% transmittance after the wet lamination process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Jie Yang, Ying-Yuh Lu, James E. Kropp
  • Patent number: 6004494
    Abstract: An electrically reactive composite article including a random or regular array of microstructures partially encapsulated within an encapsulating layer, microstructures each including a whisker-like structure, optionally having a conformal coating enveloping the whisker-like structure is described. The composite article is useful as an electrically conducting component of a circuit, antenna, microelectrode, reactive heater, and multimode sensor to detect the presence of vapors, gases, or liquid analystes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventor: Mark K. Debe
  • Patent number: 5985775
    Abstract: An adhesive tape is provided which comprises a woven cloth, a polymer embedded into the cloth so as to cause the warp and weft fibers of the cloth to bond together at their overlapping points but not to completely encase the fibers, and a pressure sensitive adhesive coated onto at least a portion of the polymer, wherein the adhesive tape is hand tearable in the down-web and in the cross-web direction. A method of manufacturing such a tape is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Gerald S. Deeb, Dennis L. Krueger, Robert H. Menzies, Herbert W. Morris, Patrick D. Hyde, Felix P. Lau, Eumi Pyum, Pamela S. Tucker, Roy Wong
  • Patent number: 5980143
    Abstract: A wrist rest assembly has a base and a layer of resilient gel supported above the base. The wrist rest assembly is for use adjacent a device operated by a person's hands or fingers, such as a computer keyboard, lap-top or portable computer, computer mouse or other input device. A layer of resilient nonwoven material is disposed between the base and at least a portion of the layer of gel to define, in combination with the layer of gel, a resilient wrist rest support structure supported from the base. A flexible liquid-impervious layer is disposed between the layer of resilient gel and the layer of resilient nonwoven web material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Glen H. Bayer, Larry A. Bettenhausen
  • Patent number: 5976690
    Abstract: A process for making an adhesive comprising allowing a carrier web coated with a thermal free-radically polymerizable mixture to remain in a heat exchange medium for a time sufficient to subdue the reaction exotherm and maintain a reaction temperature by thermal contact of the polymerizable mixture with the heat exchange medium and to affect conversion of the coating to an adhesive layer, preferably to a pressure sensitive adhesive layer, wherein the coating is a substantially solvent-free thermally initiated polymerizable mixture comprised of at least one free radical monomer, at least one thermal initiator, optionally, at least one cross-linker and optionally, at least one co-monomer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Jerry W. Williams, Gary T. Boyd, Jeanne M. Goetzke, Gerald L. Uhl, David A. Ylitalo
  • Patent number: 5972113
    Abstract: Sheets to be coated with water-based coating material, for example a primer and a low adhesion backsize, are supplied from a feeder (1), in end-to-end overlapping relationship, to a dual coater (3) in which the sheets are coated individually on both sides. A sheet inserter (2) is provided, upstream of the dual coater, to insert sheets from a second supply into the sheets from the feeder (1). The dual coated sheets are dried as individual sheets or as a pseudo-web of overlapped sheets. The sheets are then overlapped, unless previously overlapped, and the direction of overlap changed, if necessary, to provide the trailing edge of each sheet on top of the leading edge of each succeeding sheet. The overlapped sheets are conveyed through an adhesive transfer station (7) where stripes (236) of at least partially dried adhesive are coated onto the dual coated sheets from a transfer belt (71).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Frederic Pierre Alain Le Riche, Bernard Raymond Pierre, Kim Kiyoko Tsujimoto, Mark Steven Vogel
  • Patent number: 5965256
    Abstract: A multi-layered film disposed on a substrate, the multi-layered film comprising:(a) an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) layer; and(b) at least one fluoro-containing polymer layer;wherein the fluoro-containing polymer layer comprises a perfluoro-acrylate homo-or copolymer, or a perfluoro-vinyl non-acrylate homo-or copolymer. The substrate can be a cured adhesive, preferably a cured pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA), in which case the fluoro-containing polymer layer is typically situated between the PSA layer and the IPN layer. Alternatively, the substrate can be a surface to be protected from exposure to weather, chemical exposure, graffiti, or the like, such as, for example, a vehicle such as an automobile, a truck, a boat, or an aircraft; an outdoor sign; or a building exterior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventor: Denise A. Barrera
  • Patent number: 5958135
    Abstract: Sheets to be coated with water-based coating material, for example a primer and a low adhesion backsize, are supplied from a feeder (1), in end-to-end overlapping relationship, to a dual coater (3) in which the sheets are coated individually on both sides. A sheet inserter (2) is provided, upstream of the dual coater, to insert sheets from a second supply into the sheets from the feeder (1). The dual coated sheets are dried as individual sheets or as a pseudo-web of overlapped sheets. The sheets are then overlapped, unless previously overlapped, and the direction of overlap changed, if necessary, to provide the trailing edge of each sheet on top of the leading edge of each succeeding sheet. The overlapped sheets are conveyed through an adhesive transfer station (7) where stripes (236) of at least partially dried adhesive are coated onto the dual coated sheets from a transfer belt (71).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventor: Bernard Raymond Pierre
  • Patent number: 5928557
    Abstract: A poly-.alpha.-olefin:fluoroalkene diblock polymer useful as a lubricant and having a linking moiety of a heteroatom or a heteroatom-containing group linking a poly-.alpha.-olefin oligomeric unit with a fluoroalkene oligomeric unit and being miscible in hydrofluorocarbons or a mixture of hydrofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons and the miscible composition useful as compressor fluids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 1992
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: James Frederick Sanders, William Mario Lamanna
  • Patent number: 5916630
    Abstract: Sheets to be coated with water-based coating material, for example a primer and a low adhesion backsize, are supplied from a feeder (1), in end-to-end overlapping relationship, to a dual coater (3) in which the sheets are coated individually on both sides. A sheet inserter (2) is provided, upstream of the dual coater, to insert sheets from a second supply into the sheets from the feeder (1). The dual coated sheets are dried as individual sheets or as a pseudo-web of overlapped sheets. The sheets are then overlapped, unless previously overlapped, and the direction of overlap changed, if necessary, to provide the trailing edge of each sheet on top of the leading edge of each succeeding sheet. The overlapped sheets are conveyed through an adhesive transfer station (7) where stripes (236) of at least partially dried adhesive are coated onto the dual coated sheets from a transfer belt (71).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 29, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Frederic Pierre Alain Le Riche, Bernard Raymond Pierre, Gregory Francis Stifter, Mark Steven Vogel
  • Patent number: 5908693
    Abstract: We have discovered a low trauma wound dressing including a moisture-vapor permeable backing and a contiguous particulate adhesive layer comprised of tacky, substantially solvent-insoluble, solvent-dispersible, acrylate-based, elastomeric, pressure-sensitive adhesive microspheres.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 1, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Joaquin Delgado, Richard J. Goetz, Spencer F. Silver, Donald H. Lucast
  • Patent number: 5885722
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for applying pressure sensitive adhesive to a substrate, in which the adhesive is deposited on a transfer surface, such as a circulating transfer belt, dried, and subsequently transferred to a plurality of overlapping sheets. The sheets are preferably coated with a primer or a low adhesion backsize, or both, prior to application of the adhesive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
    Inventor: Johannes A. Ritter
  • Patent number: 5876855
    Abstract: The invention provides a pressure-sensitive adhesive composition for medical applications comprising a blend of at least two components comprised of about 5 to about 95% by weight of a first component comprised of at least one acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive and about 5 to about 95% by weight of a second component comprised of either (a) at least one elastomer with a tackifying resin, or (b) at least one thermoplastic elastomer, wherein the resulting pressure-sensitive adhesive demonstrates a T.sub.0 of at least 1 N/dm and a T.sub.48 of less than 12 N/dm when adhered to skin. The pressure-sensitive adhesive composition is prepared either in the presence of a solvent or is alternatively prepared by melt blending. A method of preparing such an adhesive is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Roy Wong, Dennis L. Krueger, Patrick D. Hyde, Felix P. Lau, Eumi Pyun, Pamela S. Tucker
  • Patent number: 5877252
    Abstract: This invention describes water-based microsphere adhesive formulations to be used in the sheet-to-sheet coating process. These adhesives have proven to have excellent wet-out of a difficult, high-energy surface, good shear stability to allow die-coating or gravure-coating of the adhesive onto an intermediate carrier belt, good elasticity to allow the wet adhesive to cling to the intermediate belt until it is dried (or partially dried), good integrity to allow complete transfer from the intermediate carrier belt onto the final substrate, and repositionable properties in a final product composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Kim K. Tsujimoto, Mark S. Vogel, Eric Francis Yves Baertich
  • Patent number: 5868838
    Abstract: Sheets to be coated with water-based coating material, for example a primer and a low adhesion backsize, are supplied from a feeder (1), in end-to-end overlapping relationship, to a dual coater (3) in which the sheets are coated individually on both sides. A sheet inserter (2) is provided, upstream of the dual coater, to insert sheets from a second supply into the sheets from the feeder (1). The dual coated sheets are dried as individual sheets or as a pseudo-web of overlapped sheets. The sheets are then overlapped, unless previously overlapped, and the direction of overlap changed, if necessary, to provide the trailing edge of each sheet on top of the leading edge of each succeeding sheet. The overlapped sheets are conveyed through an adhesive transfer station (7) where stripes (236) of at least partially dried adhesive are coated onto the dual coated sheets from a transfer belt (71).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Frederic Pierre Alain Le Riche, Bernard Raymond Pierre
  • Patent number: 5863330
    Abstract: Sheets to be coated with water-based coating material, for example a primer and a low adhesion backsize, are supplied from a feeder (1), in end-to-end overlapping relationship, to a dual coater (3) in which the sheets are coated individually on both sides. A sheet inserter (2) is provided, upstream of the dual coater, to insert sheets from a second supply into the sheets from the feeder (1). The dual coated sheets are dried as individual sheets or as a pseudo-web of overlapped sheets. The sheets are then overlapped, unless previously overlapped, and the direction of overlap changed, if necessary, to provide the trailing edge of each sheet on top of the leading edge of each succeeding sheet. The overlapped sheets are conveyed through an adhesive transfer station (7) where stripes (236) of at least partially dried adhesive are coated onto the dual coated sheets from a transfer belt (71).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Frederic Pierre Alain Le Riche, Bernard Raymond Pierre, Gregory Francis Stifter, Mark Steven Vogel
  • Patent number: 5856022
    Abstract: A composition of matter includes a polymerizable mixture comprising 1 to 99 weight percent of a first monomer and an initiator therefor, the first monomer being one of 1) at least one free-radically polymerizable monomer or 2) at least one cyanate ester monomer, and 99 to 1 weight percent of a second monomer and an initiator therefor, the second monomer being the member of 1) or 2) that is not selected as the first monomer, wherein the curative for the cyanate ester is a transition metal-containing organometallic compound curing agent and the curative for the free-radically polymerizable monomer is a free-radical generating curing agent or a transition metal-containing organometallic compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Fred B. McCormick, David J. Drath, Ilya Gorodisher, Michael A. Kropp, Michael C. Palazzotto, Melville R. V. Sahyun
  • Patent number: 5851592
    Abstract: Sheets to be coated with water-based coating material, for example a primer and a low adhesion backsize, are supplied from a feeder (1), in end-to-end overlapping relationship, to a dual coater (3) in which the sheets are coated individually on both sides. A sheet inserter (2) is provided, upstream of the dual coater, to insert sheets from a second supply into the sheets from the feeder (1). The dual coated sheets are dried as individual sheets or as a pseudo-web of overlapped sheets. The sheets are then overlapped, unless previously overlapped, and the direction of overlap changed, if necessary, to provide the trailing edge of each sheet on top of the leading edge of each succeeding sheet. The overlapped sheets are conveyed through an adhesive transfer station (7) where stripes (236) of at least partially dried adhesive are coated onto the dual coated sheets from a transfer belt (71).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1998
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Frederic Pierre Alain Le Riche, Bernard Raymond Pierre