News/ 2020-a-patent-odyssey

2020: A Patent Odyssey

While designing and engineering our large-scale industrial 3D printer, we created some technology worth protecting.

March 9, 2020Art + Technology
2020: A Patent Odyssey

While designing and engineering our large-scale industrial 3D printer, we created some technology worth protecting.

Eight years ago we set out to build a new kind of industrial 3D printer - a mobile large scale machine. This 3D printer would be so big that it could print anything from a functional chair to an engine block ready for casting, all while remaining portable.

To create a 3D printer unlike any other, we had to invent new processes and techniques. We put our heads down, tried hundreds of different concepts, and eventually invented a 3D printer that was so different, we needed a patent to protect it. In 2017, we applied for our first patent.

For those who don't know, the patent process is often a long and arduous road with no guarantees of approval. So while our application was under review, we surged ahead perfecting our printer.

Fast forward to the present. As of February 18th, 2020 we are extremely proud to announce that we officially have been granted Patent Number 10,562,228 by the US Patent and Trademark Office!

This patent protects the critical innovations we developed to achieve the signature portability of our Budmen Progress Printer. Other large scale 3D printers are like giant refrigerators, they are heavy, have an enormous footprint and are very stationary. This patent protects the methods we developed so that our printer is not only portable but also collapsible. When not in use the printer can easily be collapsed and rolled under a workbench out of the way. The printer can be easily lifted by 2-3 people and placed in the back of your SUV to transport to a different location. All of these functions reduce the machine's footprint and give you enormous flexibility.

This unique portability means our industrial 3D printer can literally reach parts of the world that other large scale printers cannot. This machine could just as easily be put to work in a Manhattan apartment, the Mojave Desert or 800ft below sea level on a submarine.

In creating the Progress Printer, our team designed and engineered a 3D printer that will go where no printers have gone before.

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