US Patent Issued to Graco Minnesota on April 29 for "Unmanned aerial vehicle for painting structures" (Minnesota Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,773, issued on April 29, was assigned to Graco Minnesota Inc. (Minneapolis).

"Unmanned aerial vehicle for painting structures" was invented by David J. Thompson (Oak Grove, Minn.) and Dale D. Johnson (Shoreview, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a sprayer configured to generate a pressurized fluid flow and a nozzle configured to receive the pressurized fluid from the sprayer and to generate a spray fan to apply the fluid to a surface. The UAV includes sensors and a control unit to control both flight of the UAV and spraying by the sprayer. The fluid can be stored onboard the UAV in a reserv...