ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,292,070, issued on May 6, was assigned to Penn Engineering & Manufacturing Corp. (Danboro, Pa.).
"Locking snap-in fasteners" was invented by Brian Bentrim (Furlong, Pa.), Anthony Colosi (Quakertown, Pa.) and Nicholas Marshall (Sanger, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A fastener assembly for releasable interconnecting two objects includes a retainer having a top end for attaching the retainer to a first object and an end wall at the bottom end having an aperture. A post affixed to a second object at its bottom end is captured within a central cavity of the retainer by resilient snap fit wherein either the post or the retainer is radi...