Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

3m Innovative Properties Company

Hearing Components, Inc.

3m Innovative Company

Vasant V Kolpe

Allen Raymond Siedle

Robert J Oliveira

David K Misemer

Brook F Duerr

William A Hendrickson

Hsin-hsin Chou

Davis W Chamberlin

Martin P Babcock

Dudley M Sherman

William Parish

Eugene G Joseph

Patrick Darby Hyde

Mark David Gehlsen

Carl S Ahlberg

Michael T Venem

Chad Everett Brown

Paul M Williams

Jerold W Bushong

Disclosed are foam compositions with enhanced sound attenuation characteristics for use in earpieces, for example, user-disposable foam members such as foam tips for sound control devices including sound transmission devices and earplugs in which a relationship between the size of the pores and the volume of the cells of the polymeric may be controlled.

Foam compositions with enhanced sound attenuation

A user-disposable member for placement and retention within the auditory anatomy, such as an ear canal. The user-disposable member includes a polymeric foam material, wherein the user-disposable member has a first portion having a peripheral outer surface having a first coefficient of friction, and a second portion having a peripheral outer surface having a second coefficient of friction different from the first coefficient of friction.

User disposable member for use within the ear canal and methods for manufacturing the same

A support pad for use in a hearing device of the type comprising a casing having an inner surface defining a cavity; and a sound receiving, amplification and transmitting system within the cavity in the casing, which system includes a transducer. The support pad includes a layer of conformable metal having first and second opposite major surfaces, and a layer of viscoelastic material along its first major surface. The support pad has an attachment portion with the layer of viscoelastic material along the attachment portion being adapted to be adhered to a side surface of the transducer, and has at least one tab portion adapted to project away from the transducer adjacent an end of the transducer. The tab portion is adapted to be shaped so that the second major surface along the tab portion is adjacent and conforms to the inner surface of the casing and can be adhered to the inner surface of the casing with the tab portion shaped and positioned so that the attachment portion of the support pad and the transducer are spaced from the inner surface of the casing.

Transducer support pad

A propylene polymeric composition with elastic character that is soluble in at least one nonpolar organic solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, xylene, heptane, and hexane, comprises greater than 3 weight percent and up to 45 weight percent homotactic sequences each having only r or m diads, all of which homotactic sequences have a helical length in the range of 20 to 150 &angst;, and in the range of 55 to 97 weight percent of the sum of homotactic sequences of less than 20 &angst; in helical length, each homotactic sequence having only r or m diads and having fewer than 10 repeat units with mmmm pentads being present in the range of 0 to 35 weight percent of the total composition, and heterotactic sequences having r and m diads of unequal number, the polymer having a molecular weight (M ) of at least 70,000.

Elastic polypropylenes and catalysts for their manufacture

A propylene polymeric composition with elastic character that is soluble in at least one nonpolar organic solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, xylene, heptane, and hexane, comprises greater than 3 weight percent and up to 45 weight percent homotactic sequences each having only r or m diads, all of which homotactic sequences have a helical length in the range of 20 to 150&angst;, and in the range of 55 to 97 weight percent of the sum of homotactic sequences of less than 20&angst; in helical length, each homotactic sequence having only r or m diads and having fewer than 10 repeat units with mmmm pentads being present in the range of 0 to 35 weight percent of the total composition, and heterotactic sequences having r and m diads of unequal number, the polymer having a molecular weight (M ) of at least 70,000.

A propylene polymeric composition with elastic character that is soluble in at least one nonpolar organic solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, xylene, heptane, and hexane, comprises greater than 3 weight percent and up to 45 weight percent homotactic sequences each having only r or m diads, all of which homotactic sequences have a helical length in the range of 20 to 150 &angst;, and in the range of 55 to 97 weight percent of the sum of homotactic sequences of less than 20 &angst; in helical length, each homotactic sequence having only r or m diads and having fewer than 10 repeat units with mmmm pentads being present in the range of 0 to 35 weight percent of the total composition, and heterotactic sequences having r and m diads of unequal number, the polymer having a molecular weight (M,) of at least 70,000.

The present invention relates to pressure-sensitive adhesive compositions. The compositions comprise a poly(1-alkene) pressure-sensitive adhesive component, a non-pressure-sensitive adhesive component, and a radiation-activatable curing agent. The invention further provides pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes and methods for making the compositions and tapes.

Radiation curable poly(1-alkene) based pressure-sensitive adhesives

A composite article is prepared as a polymeric support having a coating of noble metal deposited on at least one surface thereof, the coating exhibiting suitable peel force for high performance applications such as the preparation of an electrode, such as a biocompatible, flexible, thin-film microelectrode where in the composite article can be prepared by pretreating at least one surface of the support by sputter etching, followed by sputter-depositing a noble metal on the pretreated surface in order to form the coating of noble metal.

Noble metal-polymer composites and flexible thin-film conductors

The casing of a hearing aid can be acoustically dampened and its receiver is less likely to amplify noise stemming from vibrations of the casing when the casing is lined with a viscoelastic material. The viscoelastic lining can be applied by laying a viscoelastic layer across the rim of the casing and drawing a vacuum at the sound-communicating orifice of the casing until the viscoelastic is drawn tightly against the interior of the casing. A preferred viscoelastic layer has at one surface a substance such as fibers or beads that will form temporary bridges to permit an air to be evacuated between the viscoelastic layer and a casing to which it is applied. When the deposited viscoelastic is tacky at room temperature, the components of the hearing aid can be positioned simply by pressing them into the viscoelastic material, thus making the assembly easier than prior methods of assembling tiny hearing aids.

Hearing aid employing a viscoelastic material to adhere components to

Detachably secured to the ear piece of a hearing aid is a user-disposable sleeve comprising soft polymeric retarded recovery foam that can be compressed to be freely insertable into a person's ear canal and then allowed to recover to become wedged in the canal. The sleeve preferably includes a flexible, elongated plastic duct over which the foam fits, and the duct is formed with a screw thread of a rigid plastic which mates with a screw thread on the ear piece for easy attachment and removal. The external surface of the foam preferably is substantially cylindrical and can be formed with flutes to provide venting of the user's ear.

Hearing aid ear piece having disposable compressible polymeric foam

The surface properties of solid substrates are improved by the formation of discrete sites of inorganic materials on one surface of the substrate.

Process for making primed polymer surfaces and charge transfer media

An article having a primed surface or improved electric charge transfer properties is disclosed. The surface has discrete sites of inorganic materials thereon.

Growing community of inventors

Mendota Heights, MN, United States of America

Vasant V Kolpe