ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,458,866, issued on Nov. 4.
"Athletic timing device" was invented by Peter N. Hovland (Leonard, Mich.) and Paul David Huch (Rochester, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A timing device includes a housing defining an aperture. An elongated member is extendable from the housing through the aperture. A reel assembly includes a spool rotatable about a spool axle. A portion of the elongated member is wound about the spool. An encoder assembly includes a first wheel and an encoder operably coupled with the first wheel. The encoder is configured to detect a rotational velocity of the first wheel. A controller is configured to calculate a linea...