ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,256,808, issued on March 25, was assigned to Boa Technology Inc. (Denver).
"Lace coupling for reel based closure device" was invented by Thomas Trudel (Conifer, Colo.), Eric Craig Irwin (Denver) and Eric Whewell (Denver).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A reel for tightening an article includes a housing and a spool positioned within the housing. A knob is coupled with the spool to cause the spool to rotate within the housing and thereby wind a tension member about a central post of the spool. A load holding mechanism is coupled with the spool and the housing and includes a first friction element and a second friction element that are fric...