ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,512,782, issued on Dec. 30.
"Photovoltaic roof tiles" was invented by Peter Broatch (Osmington, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Photovoltaic roof tiles are provided with interlocking edges; however, these can be expensive to manufacture and time-consuming to install. A more cost-effective option of tiling may use a double-lap tile arrangement. Because plain tiles have no interlocking edges, water can leak through the joins between tiles. This requires a third tile to be placed below the join to catch any water passing through. With double-lap tiles, a significant part of each tile remains covered after installation, such tha...