ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,269,113, issued on April 8, was assigned to NIPPON LIGHT METAL COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).
"Joining method" was invented by Nobushiro Seo (Shizuoka, Japan), Keita Oikawa (Shizuoka, Japan) and Ryo Yoshida (Shizuoka, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention includes a joining process in which a first metal member and a second metal member are joined with an auxiliary member interposed therebetween by moving a rotary tool along a butted portion in a state where the rotary tool being rotated is inserted only from a front face side of the auxiliary member, only a stirring pin is in contact with the auxiliary member, a base end sid...