ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,454,172, issued on Oct. 28, was assigned to GKN Automotive Ltd. (Birmingham, Great Britain).
"In-wheel motor" was invented by Yuu Yaguchi (Tochigi, Japan) and Satoshi Niimura (Tochigi, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An in-wheel motor includes a casing at least partly housed in a wheel; a hub rotatable about an axis with a neck portion disposed in the casing and having a first face spline and a flange portion radially expanding outside the casing to combine with the wheel; a stator including an electromagnet for generating a magnetic flux and fixedly supported by the casing; a rotor rotatably supported by the casing and including a ...