ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,553,545, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to Opterus Research and Development Inc. (Fort Collins, Colo.).
"Hybrid inflatable boom" was invented by Thomas W. Murphey (Fort Collins, Colo.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A deformable hybrid inflatable boom includes an inflatable tube of a first material having an inflatable tube surface and an inflatable tube longitudinal boom direction in a hybrid inflatable boom inflated state. Each longeron of a plurality of longerons is disposed on the inflatable tube surface and spaced apart from each other and held in place by the inflatable tube, and in the hybrid inflatable boom inflated state the eac...