ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,350,530, issued on July 8, was assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Co. (St. Paul, Minn.).
"Fall protection system" was invented by Andrew C. Strauss (Goodhue, Minn.), Nicholas G. Bauer (Lake City, Minn.), Michael T. Weiss (Hastings, Minn.) and Nathan C. Meyer (Lake City, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A fall protection system includes a mast assembly including a fixed mast section, a movable mast section, and a winch assembly. The fall protection system further includes a locking mechanism adapted to lock the movable mast section relative to the fixed mast section. The locking mechanism includes a locking pawl connected to the winc...