Tice Technology announced today that it had received notification from the United States Patent and Trademark Office that US Patent number 6,135,040 had been issued on its FS-2000 felling machine. This patent is effective for twenty years, until October 24, 2020. The FS-2000, a brand new type of commercial sewing machine (updating existing technologies by over 100 years), was developed in conjunction with one of the world's largest jeans manufacturers. The FS-2000 is just one application being developed by Tice using its patented and revolutionary Electronic Gearing Technology. Tice, with input from sewing operators, designed it from the ground up, to conform to the needs of both the manufacturer and the operator. The FS-2000 offers greater efficiency in production, higher quality output, less operator fatigue and injury, and shorter training time for new operators, the company claimed. Training time can be reduced by up to 90 per cent (cutting training time from months to days or weeks), creating the ability to use a lower skill labor. Also, the FS-2000 has 90 per cent fewer moving parts, which reduces maintenance and spare parts inventories.