02/12/08 — “I’ve relied on innovation all my life,” Mike Limano says matter-of-factly about his heart troubles and how an invention by him is helping with energy research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the nation’s top engineering schools.

Limano’s invention — a vise for use in the tooling and machining industry — is being used by MIT’s Plasma Science & Fusion Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The center is working on developing nuclear fusion as a practical energy source and Limano’s invention is helping make parts for the center’s fusion reactor.

Limano, 48, has had an artificial heart valve nearly all his life.

He was born with a defect of the main valve of his heart. The valve, which normally closes at birth, remained open. The defect caused fainting spells and gave Limano a heart attack before his fourth birthday. He had open-heart surgery when he was 4 and then again at 13. He also has an implanted heart defibrillator to regulate his heartbeat after a heart attack more than a year ago.

He developed and patented a new type of vise for use on wire electrical discharge machine — wire EDM — and it got the attention of MIT officials who contacted Limano in November 2007. Limano works as a wire EDM operator at Laser Tool Co. near Saegertown

He’s donated a horizontal and vertical version of the wire EDM vise to MIT’s tooling and machining shop which makes parts for MIT’s plasma research reactor. He’s also building another larger set of vises for the school.

“I admire what they do at MIT,” Limano said of why he’s donated a set of vises. “They do a lot of medical research up there, too. I’ve relied on that (advancements in medicine) all my life.”

In offering the set to MIT, Limano wrote, “Literally, I have been so fortunate as to have lived on the cusp of all the best technology and innovations as they have been made available and literally owe my next heartbeat to it all.”

A wire EDM machine cuts metals by using a traveling wire to disintegrate material in a controlled manner. The wire is used as an electrode which actually arcs with the part to be cut, thereby creating the desired shape or form.

Limano’s vise is designed with an opening in it to allow the wire to pass through the vise. It eliminates time and need to check positioning screws on the EDM machine to make sure a part is in the correct position to be machined.

Other types of wire EDM work holding tooling won’t accurately and dependably repeat without having to be checked.

“You can remove the part, inspect it and put it back in and continue,” Limano said of his invention.

The device is a real time saver, said Charles Cauley, a project technician who runs the tooling and machining shop at MIT’s Plasma Science & Fusion Center.

“If we have a breakdown (on the plasma reactor) and need a part right away we can put his vise on the wire EDM machine and run it without disturbing the other job running,” he said.

“We are doing parts in-house now. If we had to send out for a part we could have to wait three or four weeks. Now, the next day we have it and we’re back on line.”

Limano began development of the vise began about six years ago.

“At the time, I didn’t plan on a patent,” he said. “It’s just something I needed to develop jobs. The company (Laser Tool) has been very supportive.”

Limano continued development of the vise, applied for a U.S. patent in 2004, and was awarded it in August 2005. He also formed his own side business, Praxis Tooling, as a hobby to make and market the vises.

Praxis markets them through the Internet, which is how MIT located the vises. MIT officials then contacted Limano by cell phone and he didn’t believe it.

“At first when they called me I was moving machinery around, I thought it was a crank call because I couldn’t hear them real well,” Limano said. “So later, when I realized it was MIT’s number, I got back in touch with them.”

Limano and his wife, Lynne, also got a chance to tour MIT’s Plasma Science & Fusion Center in late January as part of a thank you for donating the vises.

While there, Limano was amazed by the banks of computers and technicians in the control room for the reactor.

“The control room was just row after row of computers. It was like NASA’s control room (for space missions),” he said.

Limano’s not sure if he has any more inventions in mind.

“I just want to be productive,” he said. “It’s an honor to have my product there in the their (the MIT) shop.”