ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,326,160, issued on June 10.
"Locking unit" was invented by Ralph Wassermann (Holzgunz, Germany), Florian Holzle (Illertissen, Germany) and Matthias Wetzler (Erkheim, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A locking unit with a hydraulically actuable piston, an electromagnet with a coil and an armature, at least one latching element, a coupling rod, and a magnetic element. The coupling rod connects the magnetic element to the armature or an armature rod which is attached thereto, and a prestressing element fixes the magnetic element in a guide tube radially. As a result, an advantageous position determination is made possible by way of se...