Philip Morris USA Inc. obtains US Patent 9,055,617 titled Heater for an electrically heated aerosol generating system

In the realm of electric smoking utensils, the first claim of US '617 is:

An electrically heated aerosol generating system for receiving an aerosol-forming substrate, the system comprising:

a liquid storage portion containing an aerosol-forming substrate; a capillary wick in communication with the liquid storage portion; and at least one electric heater for heating the aerosol-forming substrate to form the aerosol, the heater including a heating element of a first cross section electrically connected to a plurality of elongate support elements, each support element having a cross section greater than the first cross section, wherein at least one of the support elements is integrally formed with the heating element; and wherein the electric heater has a diameter sized to be smaller than a diameter of the capillary wick so that a spring effect of the electric heater ensures contact with the capillary wick.