ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,397,221, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to BLADE SCIENCE S.R.O. (Brno, Czech Republic).

"Configurable modular skate blade assembly with improved damping" was invented by Ondrej Spiegl (Falun, Sweden).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed is a configurable modular damping ice-skating blade assembly including a frame with a blade runner extending along a longitudinal axis and being removably mounted in relation to the frame. The modular damping ice-skating blade assembly is configurable with the use of modified blade runners so as to allow one or more configurations for damping the frame in relation to the blade runner."

The patent was...