TWO UA PROFESSORS GRANTED COLLEGE OF EDUCATION'S FIRST PATENT

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - After 14 years in the making, two University of Arkansas professors have been granted the first patent on record for the College of Education and Health Professions. Professors Jack De Vore and Jim Snow, from the department of vocational and adult education, are co-creators of the first commercially viable solar powered kiln for reducing moisture in newly harvested wood and officially received patent #5,915,811 on June 29, 1999.

For wood to be valuable and usable by contractors for interior building materials, it must have less than 9% moisture content. The predominant current method of wood drying uses kilns fired by gas, oil or wood waste, a procedure that takes at least two to three weeks and requires significant consumption of energy. With this traditional method, nearly 20% of the wood product is lost to waste because of warping, cracking, discoloration and case hardening.

The solar kiln is an idea that’s been long in the making, according to Dr. De Vore, and one that no one has been able to tackle without running into significant problems, until now. "We picked something that even we thought was totally impossible," Dr. De Vore said. Now, after, 14 years of planning and revising, the development and manufacture of the solar-powered kiln has been successfully completed.

De Vore and Snow’s kiln has a clear advantage over the traditional method of wood-drying because it produces no waste and harnesses energy from the sun as its fuel, making it an environmentally sound alternative to pollution and waste. Using a series of curved solar collectors, a rounded wood chamber and a series of fans to encourage air flow, the solar kiln is a welcome invention to industries across the country who currently rely on an expensive and wasteful system of drying lumber. The entire drying process takes the same amount of time as the old method, between two and three weeks.

De Vore and Snow have published more than 16 articles in the past four years on the research and methodology behind their solar kiln and are looking forward to its commercial development in the near future. Currently, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at the University of Arkansas is fielding inquiries and developing a marketing strategy for the solar kiln, having received more than 80 requests for information from industries across the country.

"The development of the solar kiln is just another example of the vibrancy of research going on in the College of Education and Health Professions," Dean Charles Stegman said. "Professors De Vore and Snow have a great deal to be proud of - we’re delighted to share in this accomplishment with them. The patent is indeed exciting news."

Jack De Vore has taught industrial and technological education for 30 years at the University of Arkansas. Jim Snow, who has been a UA faculty member since 1979, also teaches industrial and technical courses for the department of vocational and adult education.

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