ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,466,654, issued on Nov. 11, was assigned to Daifuku Co. Ltd. (Osaka, Japan).
"Article transport facility" was invented by Yutaka Hasegawa (Hinocho, Japan), Naoki Douba (Hinocho, Japan), Makoto Ueda (Hinocho, Japan) and Tetsuya Kuroki (Hinocho, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An article transport facility includes support columns (2) and support beams (5) that are coupled to the support columns (2) and support rails (7). The support beams (5) each include a beam body (50), attachment members (55) for attachment to the support columns (2), and support members (60) that are fixed to the beam body (50) and are for supporting the rails (...