ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,313,565, issued on May 27, was assigned to Columbia Insurance Co. (Omaha, Neb.).
"Finishing line automatic inspection system and method" was invented by Richard Glassell (Dalton, Ga.), Chad Christman (Dalton, Ga.) and Alex Epstein (Dalton, Ga.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Automatic detection of mechanical defects in piece parts, such as floor covering planks, enables removal of the defective parts off an inspection path. A bypass conveyor system enables defective parts to be transported beyond or around a manual inspection, enabling personnel performing the subsequent inspection to focus on appearance defects. Once the remaining parts ...