Middle Tennessee

Softspikes LLC of Brentwood received U.S. Patent No. D631,240, a design patent entitled “Athletic shoe cleat” invented by Lee Paul Shuttleworth of Birmingham, England, and John Robert Burt of Chandler, Ariz.

Vanderbilt University received U.S. Patent No. 7,875,454, entitled “X-ray guided drug delivery” invented by Dennis E. Hallahan of Nashville.

Nissan North America Inc. of Franklin received U.S. Patent No. 7,874,774, entitled “Vehicle cargo arrangement” invented by Blake Peterson of Walled Lake, Mich.

JP Scope LLC of Mt. Juliet received U.S. Patent No. 7,874,271, entitled “Method of operating a valve apparatus for an internal combustion engine” invented by Charles E. Price of Mt. Juliet.

Cummins Filtration IP Inc. received U.S. Patent No. RE42,059, entitled “Oval centerpost and cooperating filter cartridge” invented by Zemin Jiang of Cookeville.

Scott Fetzer Co. of Fairview received U.S. Patent No. 7,876,543, entitled “Gas discharge lamp power supply” invented by William T. Hopkins of Dickson, Anthony W. Banks of Dickson, Alan M. Smith of Dickson, Louis B. Pickvet of Burns, Robert L. Towe of Fairview, and Charles A. Schlemm of Burns.

Other patents naming inventors from Middle Tennessee:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,874,456, entitled “Modular system for delivering hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic materials, and pressure control system therefor” invented by Edward W. Bolyard Jr. of Old Hickory, Grant McGuffey of Springfield, and Mairi MacLean of Hendersonville and assigned to Illinois Tool Works Inc. of Glenview, Ill.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,876,056, entitled “Multiple sensor variable illumination level lighting system” invented by Barry L. Atkins of Goodlettsville, Keith Alan Springs and Emmet Joseph Roche of Bowling Green, Ky., and assigned to Heathco LLC of Elmhurst, Ill.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,874,946, entitled “Baseball bat with multiple reinforcing beams” invented by Chuck Smith of Gallatin and assigned to Mattingly Hitting Products Inc. of Shelton, Conn.

East Tennessee

UT-Battelle LLC of Oak Ridge received U.S. Patent No. 7,876,267, entitled “Robust low-frequency spread-spectrum navigation system” invented by Stephen F. Smith of Loudon and James A. Moore of Powell.

Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12 LLC of Oak Ridge received U.S. Patent No. 7,876,213, entitled “Personal annunciation device” invented by Peter Angelo and James Younkin of Oak Ridge, and Paul DeMint of Kingston.

Eastman Chemical Co. of Kingsport received U.S. Patent No. 7,875,184, entitled “Crystallized pellet/liquid separator” invented by Kenny Randolph Parker of Afton, Robert Lin of Kingsport, Raymond Isaac of Gray, and Duane Alan Hall of Lexington, S.C.

Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. received U.S. Patent No. 7,876,941, entitled “Incorporation of axial system response in iterative reconstruction from axially compressed data of cylindrical scanner using on-the-fly computing” invented by Vladimir Panin and Frank Kehren of Knoxville, and Michael E. Casey of Louisville.

Playcore of Chattanooga received U.S. Patent No. 7,874,926, entitled “Elevated hand-held merry-go-round” invented by Paul S. Wingerstahn of Fort Payne, Ala.

Posey Innovations LLC of Knoxville received U.S. Patent No. 7,874,124, entitled “Method for securing a building structure” invented by Bobby R. Posey of Maryville.

Daniel C. Spears Jr. of Jefferson is the sole named inventor on U.S. Patent No. 7,876,234, entitled “Trailer depth gauge.”

Bryan K. Tilghman of Maryville is the sole named inventor on U.S. Patent No. D631,616, a design patent entitled “Hoof bandage.”

Gina Yelencich of Andersonville is the sole named inventor on U.S. Patent No. D631,274, a design patent entitled “Sports equipment rack.”

Other patents naming inventors from East Tennessee:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,720, entitled “Fluorescent monomers and tagged treatment polymers containing same for use in industrial water systems” invented by Jerry L. Reddinger of Kingsport, John D. Morris of Naperville, Ill., Barbara E. Moriarty of Palatine, Ill., Mingli Wei of Naperville, Ill., and Patrick G. Murray of Yorkville, Ill., and assigned to Nalco Co. of Naperville.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,359, entitled “Opacifying polymers” invented by Klein A. Rodrigues of Signal Mountain and Darin K. Griffith of Chattanooga and assigned to Akzo Nobel NV of The Netherlands.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,874,817, entitled “Fuel pump assembly with a vapor purge passage arrangement for a fuel pump module” invented by Bryan J. Gettel of Greeneville and Peter P. Kuperus of Cass City, Mich., and assigned to TI Group Automotive Systems LLC of Warren, Mich.

West Tennessee

Federal Express Corp. of Memphis received U.S. Patent No. 7,876,230, entitled “Fire supression and indicator system and fire detection device” invented by Arthur J. Benjamin of Germantown and James B. Popp of Olive Branch, Miss.

Warsaw Orthopedic Inc. received seven patents:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,080, entitled “Intervertebral spacer” invented by William J. Albans and Scott Gareiss of Cordova, Rolando Puno of Prospect, Ky., and Michael O’Brien of Pinecrest, Fla.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,079, entitled “Vertebral implant containment device and methods of use” invented by Anthony J. Melkent of Memphis.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,077, entitled “Support structure device and method” invented by Steven C. Humphreys of Chattanooga, Scott D. Hodges of Ooltewah and Lukas G. Eisermann and Marc M. Peterman of Memphis.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,062, entitled “Methods and devices for retaining bone plate anchors” invented by Gary S. Lindemann of Collierville and Jason Michael May of Memphis.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,059, entitled “Variable stiffness support members” invented by Michael S. Veldman of Memphis, Randall Allard of Germantown, and Christopher M. Patterson of Olive Branch, Miss.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,034, entitled “Spinal disc space preparation instruments and methods for interbody spinal implants” invented by Jeffrey Zhang of Collierville, Randy N. Allard of Germantown, Loic Josse of Denens, Switzerland, and Mingyan Liu of Bourg la Reine, France.

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,027, entitled “Autoclaveable handle with stripping mechanism to attach a disposable connecting cable” invented by Julien Prevost of Memphis and James P. Duncan of Southaven, Miss.

Also naming inventors from West Tennessee:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,875,078, entitled “Expandable interbody fusion device” invented by Robert D. Paxson of Lakeland, John Pafford of Eads, Steve Wysocki of Stratford, Conn., Joseph N. Logan of Trumbull, Conn., Richard Manzi of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Mark D. LoGuidice of Southport, Conn., Tyler P. Lipschultz of New Canaan, Conn., Carl Michael Nilsson of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Daniel S. Savage of Brecksville, Ohio and assigned to Spine Wave Inc. of Shelton, Conn.

— Compiled by R. Parrish Freeman Jr. of intellectual property law firm Waddey & Patterson P.C.