ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,436,446, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to NIDEC SANKYO Corp. (Nagano, Japan).
"Lens unit" was invented by Toshiyuki Yoshida (Nagano, Japan) and Toshio Shirotori (Nagano, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An O-ring seals between a first lens and a lens barrel. Further, between the second lens and the lens barrel is also sealed by a first adhesive layer. The lens barrel, in a state before manufacturing of the lens unit, is provided with a communication passage that communicates an inside of the lens barrel with an outer peripheral groove (outside of the lens barrel. The communication passage, in the state of FIG. 1 after manufacturing, ...