ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,366,553, issued on July 22, was assigned to Columbus McKinnon Corp. (Getzville, N.Y.).
"Integrated rope defect sensing system" was invented by Yunji Gu (Charlotte, N.C.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hoisting rope sensor assembly for use with a rope hoist. A rope guide is configured to mount around a rotating drum having a spiral rope groove defined therein. The spiral rope groove on the rotating drum is configured to receive the hoisting rope as it winds and unwinds from the rotating drum. The rope guide is configured to move laterally relative to the rotating drum to keep the hoisting rope in the spiral rope groove when winding the h...