ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,258,786, issued on March 25.
"Magnetic privacy lock control" was invented by Cameron Neil Carr (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Andrew Martin Vonnegut (Santa Barbara, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for unlocking and/or locking a privacy lockset from the exterior of the lockset or door and without the use of buttons, keys, or an object inserted into the lockset or door. The operator manipulates a magnetic object, such as a magnet or piece of ferrous metal, on the exterior of the door or lockset to cause an internal magnet attached to a rod to move the rod in and out of a collar, the far end of the rod in turn actuating the loc...