Flame-Spray Industries Receives

National Inventor of the Year Award

The Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation’s 36-year-old National Inventor of the Year Award program recognizes individuals that epitomize American traditions of technological leadership, and increases public awareness of current inventors and how they benefit the nation’s economy and our quality of life.

The 2009 Inventor of the Year award goes to Ford and Flame-Spray Industries for the collaborative development of the spray apparatus for use with Ford’s patented production-ready Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA) thermal spray coating process for aluminum engine blocks.

This accomplishment puts Ford and Flame-Spray Industries in elite company with medical and pharmaceutical powerhouses as well as agricultural and chemical standouts, among others. Past Inventors of the Year, for example, include Dr. Raymond Damadian of Fonar Corporation for the development of Upright MRI technology and Dr. Ihor Lys of Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions for his development of a more efficient LED lighting system.

The team of inventors being honored at the National Inventor of the Year Award ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 28 is Ford retiree James Baughman and Dr. David Cook, Keith Kowalsky and Daniel Marantz of supplier Flame-Spray Industries. Cook was a member of the Ford team when the spray device initially was developed.