ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,090, issued on April 29, was assigned to LEKISPORT AG (Baar, Switzerland).
"Folding stick" was invented by Marco Hofer (Unterbohringen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A folding pole (1) having four or five tubular portions (7-9), wherein, in assembled state, the tubular portions (7-9) are connected to one another by plug-in connections and oriented along the pole axis (32), and, when the pole is folded up, at least two or three tubular portions (8, 8', 9) are connected only by a movable connecting element (16). The folding pole is characterized in that a conical closure plug (18) having an axial through-opening (64) is releasa...