Iowa Patent of the Month – July 2022

CEI Equipment Company, LLC has well over 40 years of experience, bringing them recognition as an industry leader for the design, innovation, and quality manufacturing of aluminum feed trailer and feed body transportation equipment. The company has recently designed a collapsible gate for transport trailers.

Traditionally, these trailers are designed with a sliding door. These can be difficult to move especially when the trailer is fully loaded. These sliding doors usually have hand cranks to move the sliding door back and forth between open and closed. In CEI’s collapsible gate, rectangular slats are connected by hinges to create the gate body. The gate slides along tracks raising and lowering into open and closed positions respectively. 

Some hoppers are designed with multiple storage compartments. With CEI’s design, each can be outfitted with their own gate assembly. Each gate is controlled by an actuator, ensuring precise control of the material flow out of each hopper chute. The control can be adjusted to optimally match the characteristics of whatever material is stored in a given chute. The gate doesn’t obstruct the flow path of material, agitating the materials as the gate cycles from closed to open positions. An improved door design goes a long way to improving general functionality and ease of use.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

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Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

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