ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,276,118, issued on April 15, was assigned to MN Fastener LLC (Paynesville, Minn.).
"Hidden clip for decking" was invented by Nicholas J. Demuth (Cold Spring, Minn.) and Mark T. Reum (Avon, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A plurality of hidden clips can be included with a strip of clips and separated by a frangible section or tab located between adjacent clips. An aperture defined in each hidden clip can include an offset cylindrical section that causes a fastener to pivot from a vertical alignment when the fastener is driven into a joist. Each strip can be provided with a hand grip portion removably attached to a proximal-most hidden...