Marvin Johnson on patents

Marvin Johnson of Phillips Petroleum on patents:

"It's the same in patents as it is in having a baby. Conception is the best part of it."

from fastcompany:

-->Johnson's straightforward approach to innovation is at odds with much new-wave thinking about where great ideas come from. Innovators break the rules, right? Johnson is about as loyal a company man as you'll find. Today, he works part-time in order to accommodate the occasional urge to go off and explore other projects, but for the most part, he can be found right where he's always been -- at the company research lab in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. This is a place that will never be confused with Silicon Valley or Madison Avenue. There are no splashes of multicolored paint on these walls, no scooters waiting to provide "inspiration" to free-spirited thinkers. Johnson's office contains a standard light-wood, L-shaped desk; a couple of floor-to-ceiling bookcases; and five or six framed awards on the walls. His lab is similarly austere, with its white linoleum floors, equipment carefully tended on counters and in cabinets, and charts and diagrams taped to the doors and walls.

So what makes Johnson tick? That's easy: He rarely meets a problem that he doesn't want to solve. "There's an endless series of problems, things that the company needs us to solve, and we go and do that," he says.<--

Scientists vs. engineers:

-->Most of the work Johnson does is about solving smaller, focused problems -- and the more focused, the better. Johnson believes that his training in chemistry and engineering has influenced his research techniques. "The differences between chemistry and engineering are more profound than people think," he explains. "Chemistry is about exploring, but it is not about developing processes once you've discovered them. It's where the research starts. Engineering is very quantitative. It's about sequences of steps and descriptions of processes." Straddling these two disciplines helps Johnson combine the best of both worlds: the inquisitiveness of the chemist and the pragmatism of the engineer. "When I approach a problem, it's not enough to discover the nature of the solution. I want to apply it. I know that if I keep at it until I can describe everything with numbers and equations, then I will really understand it."<--

Academic vs. industrial research

-->"The first time I retired, I was 58," he says. "I went to teach at Oklahoma State University. But you know what? Universities are slow! They're collections of individuals doing their own research. I missed working for a big organization with smart colleagues who were all in it together, working toward a single goal. But it took me a few years to figure that out."<--


Some patents of Johnson:

6,794,552 (a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/398,664, filed Sep. 17, 1999 and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,316 B2). First claim:
A process comprising contacting a hydrocarbon-containing fluid which comprises a highly unsaturated hydrocarbon with a catalyst composition in the presence of hydrogen in a hydrogenation zone under a hydrogenation condition effective to hydrogenate said highly unsaturated hydrocarbon to a less unsaturated hydrocarbon wherein said catalyst composition is prepared according to a process comprising impregnating a metal aluminate catalyst support with palladium and a catalyst component selected from the group consisting of silver and an alkali metal compound wherein said metal aluminate catalyst support is prepared by a process comprising:

(a) incorporating alumina with a melted metal component to thereby provide a metal-incorporated alumina, and

(b) calcining said metal-incorporated alumina under a calcining condition to thereby provide said metal aluminate catalyst support wherein said calcining condition comprises a temperature in the range of from about 600.degree. C. to about 1350.degree. C., a pressure in the range of from about 7 pounds per square inch absolute (psia) to about 750 psia, and a time period in the range of from about 1 hour to about 60 hours; and

further wherein said melted metal component comprises a metal component having been melted under a melting condition.

5,296,515
As of Nov. 18, 04, cited six times.
First claim:
A method comprising:

(a) providing a mixture of at least one hydrocarbon polymer and a solvent, wherein the solvent comprises a combined weight percentage of C.sub.n H.sub.2n-8 and C.sub.n H.sub.2n-10 hydrocarbons of at least about 10 weight percent, where n is an integer of at least 8 in C.sub.n H.sub.2n-8 and n is an integer of at least 10 in C.sub.n H.sub.2n-10 ;

(b) contacting the mixture, having said at least one hydrocarbon polymer at least partially dissolved in the solvent, with hydrogen under conditions which include a temperature of about 750.degree. F.-1200.degree. F. and a pressure of about 700-2000 psig, and which are sufficient to hydrovisbreak said at least one hydrocarbon polymer, thereby producing a product containing a fraction which comprises hydrovisbroken polymer.

4,421,638 (Demetallization of heavy oils).
As of Nov. 18, 04, this patent was cited five times.
First claim
A method for treating metal containing hydrocarbon feed streams comprising contacting said hydrocarbon feed stream with an amount of a phosphorus sulfide of at least about 0.5 weight percent based on the weight of the hydrocarbon containing feed stream at demetallizing temperatures and pressures sufficient to convert said metals to oil insoluble compounds.