ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,371,309, issued on July 29, was assigned to Altec Industries Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.).
"Aerial device" was invented by Robert A. Berry (Fincastle, Va.), Johnson X. Miles (Daleville, Va.) and David F. Lindquist (Cameron, Mo.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An aerial device for operating on energized powerlines is disclosed. The aerial device may have a boom assembly with a lower, electrically non-insulating boom section coupled to an upper, electrically insulating boom section. The lower and upper boom sections may be coupled by a pinned connection that utilizes structural collars and structural pins to handle loads applied to the upper boo...