ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,777, issued on April 29, was assigned to Airbus Operations Ltd. (Bristol, Great Britain).
"Sealant smoothing tool" was invented by Benjamin Humphrys (Bristol, Great Britain), Hannah Barker (Bristol, Great Britain) and David Jones (Bristol, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A sealant smoothing tool for smoothing sealant in a gap between two aircraft parts is disclosed including a main body having a base surface for abutting sliding along a top surface of the aircraft parts, a spatula holder for holding a spatula, the spatula holder being configured to movably mount the spatula relative to the main body, and a resilient biasi...