Thermwood receives 32 additive manufacturing patents

Thermwood routinely applies for patent protection on additive manufacturing (AM) technology it develops for its LSAM large format additive systems. During COVID-19, it received electronic copies of patents that were granted; however, the official hard copies were withheld.

A couple of days before Christmas 2021, the company received a package containing the official hard copies of 32 additive manufacturing patents.

“This was certainly a one-day record for Thermwood and a welcome sight,” says Duane Marrett, Thermwood’s vice president of marketing. “Although it’s nice to have been granted these patents, it’s even nicer to finally have the official hard copies in hand.”

In addition to these latest patents, Thermwood already had a large portfolio of earlier issued patents covering the unique, large format (5ft x10ft table and larger) 3D print technology it has developed. This LSAM technology is widely used in large-scale additive printing in industry today. It’s being used to produce diverse products including aerospace patterns, molds and tooling, heavy equipment foundry patterns, bus chassis, large valve-body foundry patterns, and trim tooling. It was even used to print the tallest 3D printed structure in the world, the 92ft tall Al Davis Memorial Torch at Allegiant stadium in Las Vegas.

Thermwood offers its patented technology on a broad selection of machines, including single and dual gantry, fixed and moving table configurations, with print-only and print-and-trim systems, from 5ft x 10ft to 20ft x 60ft print envelopes.

The primary focus of the patented LSAM technology is to reliably and repeatedly produce the highest quality, best fused, most homogeneous printed structures possible from a variety of reinforced thermoplastic polymer composites including those intended to operate at elevated temperatures.