ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,337,954, issued on June 24, was assigned to Hyalta Aeronautics Inc. (St. Petersburg, Fla.).
"Convertible drive system" was invented by Scott R. Kempshall (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Nicholas Pfeifer (Bradenton, Fla.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A convertible ducted fan engine and mounting system. The convertible ducted fan engine has a shroud encircling a mechanical fan. The convertible ducted fan engine includes a fluid-propulsion configuration in which the mechanical fan rotates freely with respect to the shroud to produce thrust through fluid flow, and a drive-wheel configuration in which the shroud rotates about the rotational axis....