ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,275,496, issued on April 15.
"Safety railing system for a hopper barge" was invented by Eric C. Meyer (Fenton, Mo.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A safety railing system for a hopper barge with a toadstool shaped handrail section attached to the vertical gussets of a coaming of the hopper barge. The handrail section has a hollow head and a hollow stem with a bottom orifice and spaced apart slots long the handrail section. A carrier configured for attachment to a safety lanyard has an anchor at a first end that passes through one of the slots into the hollow stem but not through the orifice of the stem. A bracket latches onto the handrail ...