Patents by Inventor Phillip A. Branca

Phillip A. Branca has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5814405
    Abstract: Microporous membranes are described and characterized as having a morphological microstructure of very highly elongated nodes interconnected by fibrils which form a structural network of voids or pores through the spaces between the nodes and fibrils, which voids or pores extend from one side of the membrane to the other. The membranes are highly uniform in terms of mass per volume, have very high strength and a very open microstructure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignees: W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., W. L. Gore & Associates, GmbH
    Inventors: Phillip A. Branca, Daniel E. Hubis, Wolfgang Buerger, Christiane Rudolf, Ralf Tillmanns
  • Patent number: 5708044
    Abstract: In the present invention a blend of resin composition and blending technique is optimized to provide a desired balance of node size and fibril length with the additional property of thermal stability in the resulting stretched material.The stretched blend can be described as a polytetrafluoroethylene porous material having a microstructure of nodes interconnected by fibrils in which the material comprises a blend of two different polytetrafluoroethylenes, one polytetrafluoroethylene being a homopolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and the other polytetrafluoroethylene being a modified polymer of tetrafluoroethylene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 13, 1998
    Assignee: W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
    Inventor: Phillip A. Branca
  • Patent number: 5183545
    Abstract: A composite, porous, liquid-permeable article is provided which is a multilayer structure of discrete, bonded layers of porous, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (EPTFE). The composite has its interior and exterior surfaces coated with a perfluoro ion exchange polymer to render the composite hydrophilic so as to resist gas locking in aqueous media. Initially, the diaphragm may also contain a water-soluble surfactant to assist in initial water penetration into the pores of the composite. An improved electrolytic cell is provided having the composite diaphragm as the porous separator in the electrolysis of alkali halide solutions. The diaphragm is also useful as an improved filter medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 1991
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1993
    Inventors: Phillip A. Branca, Daniel E. Hubis, Robert S. Mallouk, Randal L. Perry
  • Patent number: 5094895
    Abstract: A composite, porous, liquid-permeable article is provided which is a multilayer structure of discrete, bonded layers of porous, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (EPTFE), which composite has its interior and exterior surfaces coated with a perfluoro ion exchange polymer to render the composite hydrophilic so as to resist gas locking in aqueous media wherein a composite diaphragm made therefrom, may also contain a water-soluble surfactant to assist in initial water penetration into the pores of the composite whereby an improved electrolytic cell is provided having the composite diaphragm as the porous separator in the electrolysis of alkali halide solutions and wherein the diaphragm is also useful as an improved filter medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1990
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1992
    Inventors: Phillip A. Branca, Daniel E. Hubis, Robert S. Mallouk, Randal L. Perry
  • Patent number: 5082472
    Abstract: A dimensionally stable, composite membrane of a microporous film in laminar contact with a continuous perfluoro ion exchange resin layer is provided. The composite membrane comprises a continuous perfluoro ion exchange polymer layer which has an original, as-prepared, length, width and thickness, the ion exchange polymer layer being in laminar attachment to a film of a microporous material, preferably porous, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (EPTFE), the microporous film having essentially the same length and width as the as-prepared continuous perfluoro ion exchange layer. The perfluoro ion exchange layer is swollen with a hydrophilic liquid to an extent that the hydrophilic liquid exceeds 20% by weight of the swollen, continuous perfluoro ion exchange layer. The swollen ion exchange layer exhibits less than a 5% increase in either length or width from its original, as-prepared, state, but it exhibits a substantial increase in thickness over its original, as-prepared, state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1990
    Date of Patent: January 21, 1992
    Inventors: Robert S. Mallouk, Phillip A. Branca, Randal L. Perry
  • Patent number: 4954388
    Abstract: An abrasion-resistant, tear-resistant, multilayer composite membrane, useful in electrolysis, is provided comprising a continuous perfluoro ion exchange polymer film attached to a reinforcing fabric by means of a porous, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (EPTFE) interlayer. The fabric and EPTFE are rendered hydrophilic and non-gas-locking by coating the interior and exterior surfaces thereof with a perfluoro ion exchange resin of equivalent weight less than 1000. The composite preferably is treated with an ionic perfluoro surfactant. Also provided is a multilayer composite according to the above in which the continuous perfluoro ion exchange film is itself a multilayer construction of a perfluorosulfonate polymer and a thin layer of perfluorocarboxylate polymer in which the perfluorosulfonate polymer interfaces with the EPTFE and the interior and exterior surfaces of the EPTFE and fabric are coated with perfluorosulfonate polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1988
    Date of Patent: September 4, 1990
    Inventors: Robert S. Mallouk, Phillip A. Branca, Randal L. Perry
  • Patent number: 4902308
    Abstract: A porous composite membrane is provided comprising a film of porous, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene whose surfaces, both exterior and within its pores, are coated with a metal salt of a perfluoro-cation exchange polymer. Also provided is the method of avoiding false-positive detection of the presence of organic nerve gas agents by a sensor adapted to detect such presence by employing in the sensor a porous composite membrane comprising a film of porous, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene whose surfaces, both exterior and within its pores, are coated with a metal salt of a perfluoro-cation exchange polymer, the composite acting as a scavenger of unwanted gas components which cause the false-positive signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1988
    Date of Patent: February 20, 1990
    Inventors: Robert S. Mallouk, Phillip A. Branca