ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,330,294, issued on June 17, was assigned to Beckhoff Automation GmbH (Verl, Germany).

"Driven linear axis and industrial robot" was invented by Peter Kastler (Vienna), Clemens Maier (Bludenz, Austria), Thomas Morscher (Vienna), Armin Pehlivan (Nuziders, Austria) and Christoph Zech (Modling, Austria).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A driven linear axis includes a housing which has a linear rail guide on which a carriage is arranged such that it can be moved back and forth linearly with the aid of a transport device. The transport device comprises a belt which circulates in the housing and is guided over two gears, at least one gear being co...