ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,410,855, issued on Sept. 9, was assigned to GKN Automotive Ltd. (Birmingham, Great Britain).
"Differential with disconnect and locking mechanisms" was invented by Kazunobu Takeshita (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Toshiaki Komatsu (Commerce Township, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A drivetrain component includes a first housing arranged to be rotated by a vehicle motive power source, a second housing, differential gears coupled to the second housing, and first and second clutches that define at least part of a disconnect mechanism and a locking mechanism. The first clutch has a disengaged state in which the first housing rotates rela...