ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,305,708, issued on May 20, was assigned to NSK LTD. (Tokyo).
"Retainer" was invented by Takatsune Onozawa (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A retainer that suppresses retainer sound, includes a main body portion, a plurality of pockets provided in a circumferential direction, and penetrates through the main body portion in a radial direction, and a retaining surface that faces a ball, and forms a C shape when viewed from the radial direction. The retaining surface includes a C-shaped outer circumferential corner portion, a C-shaped inner circumferential corner portion, a first retaining surface arranged in a first rotationa...