ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,215,729, issued on Feb. 4, was assigned to Mueller International LLC (Atlanta).
"Smart operating nut" was invented by Andrew Henderson Pike (Ooltewah, Tenn.), Amanda Leverett Owens (Trenton, Ga.) and Matthew Thomas Sutterfield (Signal Mountain, Tenn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An operating nut can include a body and a digital identification tag secured to the body, at least one of the body and the digital identification tag defining an outer surface of the operating nut. The body can define a central bore defining an axis and can include a working portion defining an end surface and a plurality of side surfaces defining a polygonal sh...