Terry, I'm in the North Dallas area, at UT Dallas.
Regarding the patent discussion, it's an exciting idea- but I'm not sure what the benefit would be. As John M and Philip have indicated, our system is largely based on multiple existing Eames patents. The expiration of the patent only ends the monopoly on the the rights to the idea, it doesn't mean the concept can be re-patented by someone else. There are undoubtedly some novel implementations which have the potential to pass muster, but it would require a patent attorney to suss it out, and defend it against prior art claims.
I think a more valuable thing for us to do, will be to write a paper, or a series of papers- a treatise* if you will... we can write about the history of the original design, our implementation, and our results. As we publish these, they can help boost our credibility and notoriety for our unique focus of preservation, and the legitimacy of the work we do here. I think that could be much more effective at boosting the museum- just my two cents.
*Full disclosure, this was actually Jason's idea
