US Patent Issued to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Regency Technologies on Sept. 15 for "Millimeter-wave directed-energy excavation" (Massachusetts, Oklahoma Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,735,985, issued on Sept. 15, was assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) and Regency Technologies LLC (Tulsa, Okla.).

"Millimeter-wave directed-energy excavation" was invented by Daniel Cohn (Cambridge, Mass.), Paul P. Woskov (Bedford, Mass.), Herbert Einstein (Belmont, Mass.) and Kenneth Oglesby (Skiatook, Okla.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Apparatus and methods are described for excavating earthen material with millimeter-wave (MMW) radiation or a combination of MMW radiation and mechanical apparatus. The MMW radiation can reduce costs and hazards associated with excavation using mechanical means only an...