Frustrated by the sound quality of his high-fidelity system, Richland researcher Jim Russell sat down on a Saturday afternoon in 1965 to dream up a better technology.

In a quiet house -- his wife had taken the children shopping for shoes -- he mulled over the work scientists elsewhere were developing to digitally reproduce sound.

The punch cards and magnetic tape they were proposing were slow and bulky. But in his mind, he saw a system using a microscopic lens and light source system to allow a computer to record data shrunk to tiny spots and play it back.

What he had was the foundation for today's compact disc.

For Battelle, it meant three patents in optical-digital recording toward the 1,000 patents now granted for technologies developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The patents range from a robotic hand to holographic technology for surveying the Alaskan pipeline.

"I don't think you've seen anything yet," said Cheryl Cejka, manager of the technology commercialization department at the lab, which Battelle operates for the Department of Energy. "We're really excited about the technology being developed."

Among developments with the potential to become part of daily life is the one responsible for the 1,000th-patent milestone the lab reached recently.

Currently, the electronic display screens in cell phones, handheld computers, watches and computer monitors usually are made of glass. That protects sensitive display devices from harmful water and oxygen.

But a team of Richland scientists has come up with a way to apply a coating to plastic that allows it to protect display devices, while offering a thin, lightweight and rugged screen. The plastic remains so flexible that screens could be rolled up or sewn into clothing.

The technology has caught the attention of Mitsubishi Corp., which has invested $15 million in a small company created to commercialize the product.

Such business potential is one of the requirements for investing in a patent.

"Technological success and business success are two different things," Cejka said. "However, we are looking for both. We don't pursue patents just because someone has a neat idea. Without a business case, we won't invest in patent protection."

Filing and pursuing the legal work for each patent costs $10,000 to $15,000 and can be justified only by the potential to secure a return on that investment.

But predicting which technology has business potential is not always easy.

No commercial partners were interested in licensing Russell's technology when it was patented. The first venture capitalist that pursued its advanced development was unsuccessful, even though now it's used for computer discs, music discs and DVD movies.

Eventually, the patents did yield $4 million to $5 million for Battelle, said Bill Farris, manager of the intellectual property development and licensing group at the lab. Russell, responsible for 22 patented technologies at the lab, since has moved to the Seattle area, and his optical-digital recording patents have expired.

But the lab has other big money-makers.

Some are for a technique to measure on-the-job exposure to radiation developed by inventor Steve Miller. Used in dosimeters, the technology has resulted in more than $1 million in revenues.

Patents that cover a technique that makes mass spectrometers used for analyzing samples more precise has earned more than $1.3 million.

"If you walk into most research laboratories with a mass spectrometer, Battelle technology is within the device," Farris said.

Some patents among the 1,000 were for technologies developed directly for DOE, like a method for time-controlled release of chemicals to prevent roots from growing and disturbing underground tanks of nuclear waste. But the technology was adapted for more conventional uses, such as preventing root growth into sewer gaskets or under sidewalks.

In other cases, businesses came to the lab looking for its expertise for unusual problems.

That's how two researchers in 1993 came to develop a portable device to test basketball hoops to see how they would hold up to power dunks.

To prevent backboards from being shattered during slam dunks, rims were being developed in the early 1990s that bent down. But that raised concerns in college basketball about whether the basketball hoops were similar enough from court to court to ensure fair play.

The Richland lab accepted a contract to develop a testing system.

"We came up with a Cadillac solution," Farris said. But it turned out to be more high-tech than college basketball wanted. The governing body went with more of a Pinto solution, he said.

Other unexpected patents for the DOE lab have included ones for a flexible eyeglass hinge that works without a pin or screw and automated pruning technology for maintaining vineyards.

In recent years, the number of patents has grown more quickly.

"Our research volume didn't change, but Battelle's emphasis on commercialization and the investments it has made in commercialization have translated into these increases," Farris said.

About 20 percent of the 1,000 patents have been granted since fiscal year 2000. In the last fiscal year, Battelle was awarded 29 U.S. patents and 50 foreign patents for technologies developed at the lab.

"Our primary purpose is to conduct research and development for our clients," Farris said. "Our patents are a positive byproduct of that work."