US Patent Issued to International Wheel and Tire on July 1 for "Robotic tire mounter" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,344,052, issued on July 1, was assigned to International Wheel and Tire Inc. (Farmington Hills, Mich.).

"Robotic tire mounter" was invented by Kevin R. Kerwin (Orion Township, Mich.), Daniel Ehlke (Oak Park, Mich.) and Mohammed Hassan (Oak Park, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A robotic tire mounter for mounting a tire to a wheel is disclosed. The robotic tire mounted comprises a robotic arm and a gripping unit. The gripping unit further comprises a plurality of gripping fingers that are selectively moveable between a releasing position and a gripping position. When in the gripping fingers are in the releasing position, the gripping ...