ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,702,962, issued on Aug. 11, was assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.).
"Metering hoppers and related methods" was invented by Mark Donahue (Littleton, Mass.) and Eric Morgan (Harvard, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present disclosure relates to improved metering hoppers for dispensing solid materials, particularly in the context of metered dispensation of solid pellets to feed reactors, in addition to associated methods, systems, and apparatuses. The disclosure relates, in various embodiments, to shielded metering hoppers configured to control the flow of solid material to a feed slot. In some cas...