About Us: Don Parent

East Coast Manager

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Professional Summary

Mr. Parent has 30 years experience in the engineering, manufacturing and marketing of fully automated process machinery, electronic products, appliances, heaters, and consumer products. He is a named inventor on 19 issued and pending patents and is a Registered Professional Engineer. Mr. Parent provides expert engineering services and testimony relating to product safety, product liability, patents and intellectual property analysis.

In prior roles, Mr. Parent developed advanced metalizing systems used for producing electronic, consumer, and medical products. He worked with counsel in drafting patent applications, researching prior art and reviewing patents and other relevant documents. Mr. Parent led the design of computer-controlled machines used worldwide for making CD and DVD discs. He is experienced in the design of automated machinery for safe operation.

As an engineering practitioner with depth and breadth in engineering methods, Mr. Parent excels at conveying complex engineering principles to both technical and non-technical audiences. His experience as a presenter at conferences, as a technical sales person and as a teacher of engineers, has taught him how to communicate technical facts to varied audiences.

Mr. Parent holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. His broad range of skills include product design, mechanical design, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, stress and failure mechanics, thermodynamics, computational methods, controls, design of electrical systems, design for safety, machine interlocking, and failure analysis.

Expertise

Patents and Intellectual Property Analysis	Electric Heaters
Failure Analysis	Small Appliances
Machine Safety and Risk Analysis	Automated Machines
Product Design	Metallizing and Coating Machines

Education

Degree	College/University	Year
Graduate classes in servo systems and signal processing	University of New Hampshire	1982
Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering	Stanford University	1980
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering (summa cum laude)	Northeastern University	1979
Machine Tool Technology	Central Maine Technical College	1974

Experience

East Coast Manager, Steinke Beyer, Inc., Los Altos Hills, CA, 2000 - Present
Engineering consulting relating to patents, intellectual property analysis, failure analysis, safety, and product liability for more than 12 years.

VP Sales and Innovation, Marca Coating Technologies, Scarborough, ME, 2009 - 2011
Sales, engineering development and intellectual property protection of vacuum coating machines and technologies. (Formerly D2 Inline Solutions, LLC)

President, D2 Inline Solutions, LLC, Scarborough, ME, 2001 - 2009
Development, intellectual property protection and reduction to practice of new production processes for coating plastic parts. (Spin-off from D2 Systems)

President, D2 Systems, Gray, ME, 1998 - 2001
Engineering consulting relating to patents, intellectual property, product design and process automation.

Dir. of Engineering, Dir. of Tech. Development, First Light Tech, Saco, ME 1991 - 1998
Design and development of patented DVD manufacturing processes. Design and development of optical disc production machinery.

Vice President of Engineering, Chapman Corp, Portland, ME, 1985 - 1991
Design of patented static elimination equipment.

Senior Engineer, GTE Products Corporation, Standish, ME, 1982 - 1985
Design of high power heater devices for industrial, automotive and home applications.

Member of Technical Staff, Bell Telephone Laboratory Whippany, NJ, 1979 - 1982
Design of digital tape backup systems. Responsible for magnetic tape and magnetic head components.

US Patents & Publications

Patents / Publications	Date	Description
PCT/US2012/054866	9/13/2012	Photovoltaic Textiles
20100181193	1/15/2010	In-Line Metallizer Assemblies and Part-Coating Conveyor Systems Incorporating the Same
6,983,925	1/10/2006	Rotary Barrel Gate Valve
6,889,564	5/10/2005	Peak flow meter
6,676,810	1/13/2004	Method of coating insulative substrates
6,511,616	1/28/2003	System and method for curing a resin disposed between a top and bottom substrate with thermal management
6,500,297	12/31/2002	Method of forming bonded storage disks with low power light assembly
6,430,803	8/13/2002	Method for maintaining concentricity of a combination of a top and bottom substrate during the assembly of a bonded storage disk
6,355,129	3/12/2002	System and method for thermally manipulating a combination of a top and bottom substrate before a curing operation
6,352,612	3/5/2002	System for forming bonded storage disks with low power light assembly.
6,254,809	7/3/2001	System and method for curing a resin disposed between a top and bottom substrate with thermal management
6,103,039	8/15/2000	System and method for thermally manipulating a combination of a top and bottom substrate before a curing operation
6,098,272	8/8/2000	System for maintaining concentricity of a combination of a top and bottom substrate during the assembly of a bonded storage disk
5,709,785	1/20/1998	Metallizing machine
5,491,602	2/13/1996	Air distributing and ionizing systems
5,430,923	7/11/1995	Method for removing a cap from a container with a cap engaging unit
5,271,296	12/21/1993	Automated container cap remover and method
5,008,594	4/6/1991	Self-balancing circuit for convection air ionizers
4,780,286	10/25/1988	Insecticide dispenser containing eutectic disconnector

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Publications and Presentations

Inline Metallization: The Next Game-Changing Technology in Cosmetic Packaging, HBA NYC, 2010

Sputtered Metal Coatings and UV Coatings, Working Together, RadTech Report, November/December 2008

PVD and UV Coatings, Working Together, Presenter, RadTech2008, May 2008

Gazebo Project Report, Mikkeli International Industrial Coating Seminar (MIICS), Mikkeli Finland, March 2003

Innovations in Sputtering Technology Workshop, Panelist and Presenter,
Replitech Europe 1998, Netherlands.

DVD-9, Perfecting the Process, Panelist and Presenter, Replitech USA,
San Francisco, California. 1998.

Practical Solutions for Gold Sputtering of Recordable Compact Discs,
Society of Vacuum Coaters Conference, 1995.

Design for CE compliance, Presented to American Society of
Quality Control, Maine Chapter.

A Comparison of Various Ionizer Balancing Methods, Electrostatic Society of America Conference, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.

Benchtop Ionization Workshop, Panelist and Presenter, EOS/ESD Symposium.
Balancing of Benchtop Ionizers, Magazine Article, Evaluation Engineering Magazine.

DC Motor Selection with Personal Computer Software,
Power Conversion & Intelligent Motion Magazine, August, 1986

DC Motor Selection with Personal Computer Software, Proceedings,
Motor-Con Conference, 1985.

Monitoring Heat Transfer Coefficients using Liquid Crystals, Master’s Project,
Stanford University, 1980.

 

Professional Honors, Affiliations, Achievements

• Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer, Maine #4832
• Mentor, High School Student, Portland Maine
• Mentor, Top Gun Program, Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development
• Member, National Society of Professional Engineers
• Member, American Society of Safety Engineers
• Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
• Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Member, Northeastern University Engineering Department Industrial Advisory Board
• Past President, Windham Educational Foundation Board of Directors
• Past instructor, PE Exam review class, University of Southern Maine
• Participant, State of Maine Commission on Science and Technology Literacy