1998 - Draper Laboratory

“Draper encourages its personnel Opticalto challenge the constraints ofthe past and present and tocreate solutions for tomorrow,”says Draper’s Legal Counsel John Nelson.Draper, which was formed to contribute to scientificresearch and technological development, has atradition of technical creativity. The disclosure ofinventions is an important step in documentingDraper personnel’s creative efforts, and is arequirement under Laboratory contracts (and by anagreement with Draper that all employees sign).Draper has an established patent policy andunderstands the value of patents in directing attentionto effective individual accomplishments in science andengineering.Source Isolator with Polarization MaintainingOptical Fiber and Aspheric Collimating and Focusing LensHunting Suppressor for Polyphase Electric MotorsSensor Having an Off-Frequency Drive Scheme and a SenseBias Generator Utilizing Tuned Circuitsare excellent examples of Draper engineers developingcreative solutions to solve what was thought to be thelimits of the past. The following pages contain anoverview of the technology covered in each patent,followed by the official patent abstract issued by theU.S. Patent Office.Millions of U.S. patents have been issued since thefirst patent in 1836. Through December 31, 1997,914 Draper patent disclosures have been submitted tothe Patent Committee since 1973, 450 of which wereapproved by Draper’s Patent Committee for furtherpatent action. As of December 31, a total of 357patents have been granted, or soon will be granted forinventions made by Draper personnel. Nineteenpatents were issued for calendar year 1997.On average, Draper’s Patent Committee typicallyrecommends seeking patent protection for 50 percent ofthe disclosures received. “This percentage is higher thanone would commonly find in other organizations, bethey industry or academia,” Nelson noted. “This isfurther evidence of Draper’s concern for andencouragement of creative work. An issued patent isobviously recognition by a critical and qualified thirdparty, namely the U.S. Patent Office, of novel andcreative work. The inventor should be justly proud ofreceiving this recognition.”The four patents chosen for this publication:Gimballed Vibrating Gyroscope Having Strain ReliefFeaturesIntroduction