ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,276,052, issued on April 15, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Tensioning device" was invented by Hsieh Wei Ping (Douliou, Taiwan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Aspects herein are directed to a tensioning device for a strand on a knitting machine. The tensioning device includes a mounting plate that may be positioned between a strand source and a feeder bar. The mounting plate supports a first pulley, a second pulley and a weighted third pulley that is movable with respect to the first pulley and the second pulley. By routing a strand over the first pulley, under the third pulley and over the second pulley, additional tension ...