Pearland inventor gets patent for new peelable seal developed for Dow

A Pearland inventor is part of a team receiving a U.S. patent for a new kind of peelable seal it developed for the Dow Chemical Co.

In the patent, the team claims the chemical composition it has developed yields sealing materials that could be applied in common uses such as food storage or packaging for medical devices. The seals are not only easily peelable, they claim, but change color to indicate if they have been tampered with. Some of the materials it has developed also "age down" in strength so they seal tightly when manufactured but are easy to open by the time they reach consumers, the team says.

The official patent number for the new invention is 7,863,383. It lists as inventors Julie W. Gibbons of Lake Jackson; Alveda J. Williams of Pearland; Rajen M. Patel of Lake Jackson; Jeffrey J. Wooster, who lives in the Montrose area of Houston; Enrique Torres of Thalwil, Switzerland; Miguel A. Prieto Goubert of Richterswil, Switzerland; and Olga Bertran of Tarragona, Spain.

The patent was originally filed on Sept. 8, 2006. Dow Global Technologies Inc. is listed as the official owner.

Based in Midland, Michigan, Dow Chemical Co. is one of the largest chemical manufacturers in the world.