ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,920, issued on May 13, was assigned to POLARIS INDUSTRIES INC. (Medina, Minn.).
"Snowmobile" was invented by Jan R. Vistad (Roseau, Minn.), Dustin A. Mertens (Roseau, Minn.), Andrew J. Mills (Daniel, Wyo.) and Michael A. Hedlund (Roseau, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A snowmobile has an air intake system integrated into the snowmobile body, and with air intake vents facing rearwardly towards the rider. The air intake system includes a plenum defined by a portion of the body and ducting extending within the body. The ducting is porous to allow the air input noise to be dissipated within the engine compartment. The snowmobile fu...