ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,345, issued on May 13, was assigned to Montana Instruments Corp. (Bozeman, Mont.).

"Variable temperature analytical instrument assemblies, components, and methods for providing variable temperatures" was invented by Ryan Murdick (Superior, Colo.), Anjan Reijnders (Groton, Mass.) and David Schiff (Bozeman, Mont.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Variable temperature analytical assemblies are provided and/or methods for changing temperatures of a mass are provided. Low thermal conductance components and/or assemblies are also provided. Methods for thermally isolating a mass from a support structure are also provided."

The patent was file...