The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 30, 2025
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2024
President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge, MA (US);
Maya Faaborg, Cambridge, MA (US);
Cheng Zeng, Cambridge, MA (US);
Michael P. Brenner, Cambridge, MA (US);
Yohai Bar-Sinai, Cambridge, MA (US);
Ahmed Sherif, Cambridge, MA (US);
Vinothan N. Manoharan, Cambridge, MA (US);
President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
In some aspects, a device comprises a plurality of walls defining one or more channels; wherein the one or more channels have a cross-section in a plane perpendicular to a vertical axis of the device that changes along the vertical axis; and one or more floats sized to allow movement of the one or more floats within said one or more channels, wherein the one or more floats have a surface characteristic that is different from the surface characteristic of the walls such that, upon contact with a fluid, said walls and said floats form different contact angles and induce a repulsive capillary force between the walls and the one or more floats at a surface of the fluid.