Technical report · DAR / 56 Filed 1993 — Granted 2026 Minneapolis, MN

The Sealed
Machine.

Fifty-six United States patents by David A. Ruben, Sr. Distinguished Engineer and Bakken Fellow, Medtronic — thirty-three years of making electronics survive inside the human body: hermetic packages, laser-joined seams, sensors that feel, and power measured in decades.

US utility grants 56 every one verified against the USPTO record

Years of invention 33 first filing 1993 · latest grant 2026

Citations, one patent 203 US5885471A — the shock-proof pacemaker accelerometer

Disciplines 6 from hermetic walls to nuclear micro-power

Cited by Boston ScientificBIOTRONIKVerilyLockheed MartinIBM
Exhibit A US 5,885,471 FIGS. 7(a)-7(c)
Patent drawing, FIGS. 7(a)-7(c) of US5885471A: The central-rail-stop sensor in three views — assembled block, end-on cross-section, and full exploded stack — showing the piezoelectric beam suspended between a grooved cover and base whose center rails let it flex normally but catch its free end before a shock can snap it.
FIGS. 7(a)-7(c) · US5885471A · granted 1999 · 203 forward citations The central-rail-stop sensor in three views — assembled block, end-on cross-section, and full exploded stack — showing the piezoelectric beam suspended between a grooved cover and base whose center rails let it flex normally but catch its free end before a shock can snap it.
Exhibit B US 10,096,393 FIG. 1A
Patent drawing, FIG. 1A of US10096393B2: A cross-section of the whole betavoltaic cell: a sponge-like tangle of interconnected 3D nanostructures, each lobe traced with thin coating layers, filling the gap between two flat electrode plates top and bottom.
FIG. 1A · US10096393B2 · granted 2018 · betavoltaic converter A cross-section of the whole betavoltaic cell: a sponge-like tangle of interconnected 3D nanostructures, each lobe traced with thin coating layers, filling the gap between two flat electrode plates top and bottom.

Six deep dives

flagship essays · tiered sourcing

The corpus resolves into six engineering stories. Each essay is built on the patents themselves, with every claim labeled by its evidence tier.

  1. 1993: The First Housing 1993-1996 · Hermetic Packaging & Feedthroughs · 1 patent
  2. The Accelerometer Line: teaching the pacemaker to feel motion 1997-2001 · Implantable Sensors · 4 patents
  3. The Laser Craft: light as a precision tool 2000-2025 · Laser Materials Processing · 11 patents
  4. The Feedthrough Line: wiring through an unbroken wall 2014-2024 · Hermetic Packaging & Feedthroughs · 4 patents
  5. The Nuclear Line: reviving the atomic heartbeat 2015-2024 · Power Sources · 5 patents
  6. The Valve: engineering mercy for hydrocephalus 2020-2024 · Flow Control & Surgical Navigation · 2 patents

The corpus, complete

instrument wall · 1996–2026

Grants on the wall 56

Every grant, year by year: identifier, title, discipline, standing, forward citations. Eight are sole-inventor. 8 / 56 carry his name alone.

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Six disciplines

distribution of the 56