ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,336,511, issued on June 24, was assigned to FIRSPURT INC (Seoul, South Korea).

"Lead adjustment apparatus controlled according to different forces for each direction" was invented by Yong Joon Jang (Seoul, South Korea) and Shin Woong Park (Seoul, South Korea).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A lead adjustment apparatus includes a cover portion including locking means, a rotating member around which a lead is wound, latches coupled to the rotating member, and rotating with respect to the same axis as the rotating member when force of a preset range is applied to the lead, and opened so as to be locked into some of the locking means, an elast...