Nevada Patent of the Month – August 2022
After news of the pandemic broke, many businesses were left scrambling to find safe and effective sanitation protocols. While you might expect a clinic or hospital waiting room to be ahead of the curve on this one, there were some complications. By its very nature, a waiting room sees a high turnover of occupants, with different patients and visitors changing chairs throughout the day, creating multiple points of contact where people may contract something if it’s infectious enough. Ofcourse, sanitizing a chair in between each occupant became the norm but this quickly became unsustainable. A busy clinic, inpatient guests, or even fabric chairs limited this ability.
Via, Inc. has been designing seats since 1987. The company knows that a chair is more than just a seat. From the material to the innovative design, every decision matters. With this expertise, the company tackled these sanitation concerns and designed a bacterial resistant chair. In fact, their design actually predates the pandemic, showing their innovation is always ahead of the curve. Their bacterial resistant design has recently been awarded a patent.
The design uses a mesh fabric – something unconventional for clinical and hospital environments. Mesh materials are known to break down over time with repeated exposure to strong cleaning agents. Via’s design overcomes this by incorporating copper infused strands which offer a natural antibacterial effect. The company subjected their mesh materials to rigorous testing and repeatedly found a reduction in the colony count of bacteria even when compared to other bacteria reducing fabrics. The fabric is the key component in this design, able to offer a bacterial resistance either in the waiting room – with standard chairs – or in the doctor’s office – with swivel chairs.
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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