ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,287,006, issued on April 29, was assigned to JTEKT Bearings North America LLC (Greenville, S.C.).

"Multi-row thrust bearing with sigma cage" was invented by Stefan Knatz (Bielefeld, Germany) and Matthias Czogalla (Versmold, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A thrust bearing assembly comprises a cage including an annular portion. A first flange extends axially from an inner peripheral edge of the annular portion, and a second flange extends axially from an outer peripheral edge of the annular portion. A first plurality of roller pockets are defined by the annular portion, the first roller pockets of the first plurality of roller pocke...