The term “HYDROCAPSULE^®”, is a U.S. Registered Trademark (Reg. No. 2,468,415), solely owned by ARS, Inc.  It is defined as a discrete capsule(s) or microcapsule(s), of any size, shape, composition and color, which has a polymeric outer coating (shell or membrane) that surrounds any inner liquid mixture having 10% to 100% water content.  The capsules are typically round, but can be any shape, and range in size from 100 microns to 2 centimeters in diameter, and are typically between 2 to 3 millimeters.

 The methods, materials, chemical processes and machine hardware used to produce HYDROCAPSULE^® are U.S. Patent-pending  (Ser. No. 09/780,046) and International Patent-pending  (PCT Chapters 1 & 2 filed) and are solely owned by ARS.  

The acronym “HEM” stands for HYDROCAPSULE^® Encapsulation Machine, and refers to any machine, device or mechanical process that makes HYDROCAPSULE^®.

The polymeric coating or outer shell/membrane of a HYDROCAPSULE^® is made up of a specific composition of chemical compounds.  Any unique liquid mixture of chemical compounds combined in specific ratio to make-up a HYDROCAPSULE^® coating with specific properties is called a “FORMULATION”.  There are many HYDROCAPSULE^® FORMULATIONS. Each having unique physical and chemical properties, and are all proprietary ARS company Trade-Secrets.  Each FORMULATION has its own code number.  

This  HYDROCAPSULE^® technology has been under development since 1996 and is continuously being improved upon.  It has been used in commercial applications since 1999.  The TECHNOLOGY was initially developed for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS) for the sole purpose of supplying food to beneficial insects used in mass rearing and has been the main use of the  technology since its initial development.  The current HEMs, designed and built by ARS for laboratory use,  have been able to produce 20 Liters (20 Kg) of water filled HYDROCAPSULES^® per day (approx. 3,520,000 – 2 mm DIA capsules in a day), or 140 Kg per 7-day week, in typically 5 to 7 hours (per day) of running operational time.  It is estimated that using the same laboratory scale HEM as currently exists, without modification or expansion, that a production of up to 420 Kg per week of HYDROCAPSULES^® is possible, based on a continuous 24 hour per day production cycle. This technology  allows for any volume (amount) of HYDROCAPSULES^® to be made.  There is no known limit of production capacity for this technology, assuming larger and multiple machines for factory operations.  The FORMULATION used with this technology has no effect on the number of HYDROCAPSULES^® produced.