This week's featured patent discloses a device for evacuating smoke that is produced by electrocautery surgical devices.

According to this week's featured patent, railroad axles are usually one piece and therefore the wheels are fixed to each other in rotation. This arrangement causes problems when the railcar goes around a corner, because the outside wheel wants to turn faster . . .

This week's featured patent discloses a device for cleaning air filters on vehicles used in off-road and other environments that quickly saturate the air filter with particulate matter.

This week's featured patent is an armor system that could be used for aircraft, armored vehicles, and body armor. The invention includes a multi-layer design, with a core material that is coated with a second material.

Today's featured patent is a chemical vapor deposition system for fabricating integrated circuits. Chemical vapor deposition is a process commonly used to deposit a very thin layer on a semiconductor or other substrate.

This week's featured Idaho patent is a design patent for a "miniature football helmet liquid bottle pourer."

U.S. Patent Number 8,218,799 - Non-occluding audio headset positioned in the ear canal

If you ever wished that your earbud headset was even smaller and could be put even farther into your ear, then this is the invention for you.

U.S. Patent Number 8,214,298 - Systems and Methods for Performing Wireless Financial Transactions

Inventor: Steven Harvey McCown (Rigby, ID)

Assignee: RFinity Corporation (Idaho Falls, ID)

This invention deals with processing financial transactions using wireless technology, and specifically by authorizing a transaction using the respective mobile devices of a buyer and a seller.

U.S. Patent Number 8,205,818 - Strap Winder

Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly granted patents. This blog post is part of a weekly series in which I pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

U.S. Patent Number 8,203,531 - Vector-Specific Haptic Feedback

Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes new granted patents. I thought some of you would like to read about Idaho-related patents--that is, patents having at least one Idaho inventor or assigned to an Idaho company. I'm going to do a weekly series of blog posts in which I will pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.