ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,303,996, issued on May 20, was assigned to Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (Tokyo).
"Welded structure and friction stir welding device" was invented by Akiyoshi Miyawaki (Saitama, Japan), Mitsuru Sayama (Saitama, Japan) and Taichi Kurihara (Saitama, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A welded structure includes a first workpiece (11), a second workpiece (12), a bonded part (28) formed between the first workpiece and the second workpiece by plastically displaced materials of the first workpiece and the second workpiece, and a hooking portion (29) having a base end embedded in the second workpiece, and a tip end extending into the first workpiece, ...