ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,338,108, issued on June 24, was assigned to Enerpac Heavy Lifting Technology B.V. (Hengelo Overijssel, Netherlands).
"Self-locking jack" was invented by Frank Schiphorst (Zwolle, Netherlands), Bas Geerdink (Hengelo, Netherlands) and Jeremy Stubbs (Worcester, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A jack includes a main body (14) with a cavity (18). A lifting cylinder (42) is supported on the main body and is extendable into the cavity. A lock (30, 34) is movably coupled to the main body. A spring (38) is coupled to the lock and biases the lock into the cavity. A cylinder (86) is coupled to the lock and biases the lock out of the ca...