ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,523,070, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to NIFCO INC. (Yokosuka, Japan).
"Lock apparatus for lid of box" was invented by Koji Kondo (Yokosuka, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A lock apparatus includes a lid configured to turn to open and close an opening of a box; a rod switchable between a locked position where a tip of the rod projects to outside of the lid and an unlocked position where the tip is retracted to inside of the lid; and a guide member attached to the inside of the lid and configured to slidably support the rod. The lid includes one of an engaging portion and an engaged portion, and the guide member includes the othe...