ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,326,165, issued on June 10.
"Spring latch for a hook" was invented by William P. Wells Jr. (Ider, Ala.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A spring latch has a pair of spaced apart torsional springs disposed on opposite sides of a hole in a neck portion of a hook. A horizontal elongate member is connected to one of the pair of spaced apart torsional springs and an elongate member is connected to the pair of spaced apart torsional springs. The horizontal elongate member extends through the hole in the neck portion. The elongate member extends to a distal portion. The distal portion is configured to engage with a surface on the hook near a tip ...