ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,214,472, issued on Feb. 4.
"Self-adjusting deep well socket" was invented by Trevor W. Emerick (Butler, Pa.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A self-adjusting-size socket formed as a pair of coaxial tubes in rotatable relationship to one another, the innermost tube having a limited directional distance and independently rotational relationship with the outer tube by rotating along a mated set of threaded structures on immediately adjacent sides of the coaxial pair of tubes. The inner tube is a deep well chamber having a tool receiving end and a fastener receiving end, with an annular array of independently pivotable fingers arranged about an...