ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,275,462, issued on April 15.
"Differential swerve drive" was invented by Gideon Louis Rabson (Newton, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A differential swerve drive has a carriage that pivots about a pivot axis relative to a base. A drive wheel is rotationally connected to the carriage. A planetary gear system includes a sun gear, a ring gear, a carrier, and at least one planet clear which is pivotally supported by the carrier and is disposed between and meshes with the sun gear and the ring gear. The carrier is fixed relative to the carriage, and an orbiting movement of the planet gear causes a pivoting movement of the carriage, Rotati...