ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,313,129, issued on May 27, was assigned to GKN Driveline International GmbH (Lohmar, Germany).
"Tripod type constant velocity joint" was invented by Marc Francois (Noisy le Roi, France) and Hans-Juergen Post (Bonn, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A constant velocity joint comprises a male element having arms, a female element having a central axis and defining a pair of symmetrical tracks and an outer roller which can roll on one or other of the two tracks via a peripheral rolling surface. The female element comprises at least one bearing surface which limits the rotation of the outer roller around an axis perpendicular to the axi...