Patents Assigned to General Research and Device Corporation
  • Patent number: 5810640
    Abstract: Novel magnetic gel materials useful as toys, playthings and novelties and a method for making same. These materials should also prove useful in other fields where ferrofluids and other magnetic liquids have found use when the plastic mechanical properties of the gel are not a limitation. The novel invention produces a magnetic material that exhibits the soft, thixotropic properties of play gels. A gelatinous material such as a silicone gel has a fine magnetic powder dispersed throughout by kneading into a substantially uniform mixture at ambient/room temperature. The advantage of this method for producing magnetic gel over the alternative of adding a gelling agent to an existing ferrofluid are simplicity and the ability to choose the properties of the gelatinous material independently of the need for a carrier fluid. Various types of toy applications include resilient plastic covered forms, template action figure body forms, flowers, and volcanoes with various shaped openings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 22, 1998
    Assignee: General Research and Device Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas L. Clarke, Jocelyn E. Clarke