ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,286,311, issued on April 29, was assigned to Beckhoff Automation GmbH (Verl, Germany).

"Linear transport system with object transfer" was invented by Robert Ian Rawlyk (Rheda Wiedenbruck, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for transferring an object from a first rotor to a second rotor in a linear transport system is provided in a transfer region between a first drive unit and a second drive unit. The rotors move along the drive units due to a magnetic field generated by respective coil units, and the object is initially attached to the first rotor with the aid of a first connection. The method includes synchronizing movement...