ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,439,574, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co. Ltd. (Kadoma, Japan).
"Housing device" was invented by Hiroaki Kato (Fukuoka, Japan) and Yoshinori Isobata (Fukuoka, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Tape cassette (22) of the present disclosure configured to house roll body (RT) of a carrier tape includes housing (41) and shutter (42). Housing (41) includes housing space (41S) for housing roll body (RT) and front opening (41K) through which roll body (RT) is allowed to be taken in and out in a front part of housing (41). Shutter (42) can be displaced between a closing position at which movement ...