ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,492,521, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to Nanjing Chervon Industry Co. Ltd. (Nanjing, China).

"Snow thrower" was invented by Toshinari Yamaoka (Nanjing, China), Fangjie Nie (Nanjing, China) and Huixing Fu (Nanjing, China).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A snow thrower includes a first drive shaft enabled to rotate about a first axis; an auger having auger blades mounted to the first drive shaft, a second drive shaft enabled to rotate about a second axis, an impeller having an impeller base mounted to the second drive shaft and impeller blades where the second axis and the first axis are perpendicular to each other, a walking wheel assembly...