ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,509,832, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to PRINOTH S.P.A. (Vipiteno, Italy).

"Snow tooth for a snow tiller and said snow tiller for the preparation of the snow cover of the ski slopes" was invented by Martin Kirchmair (Vipiteno, Italy), Markus Unterholzner (Vipiteno, Italy) and Mirko Insam (Vipiteno, Italy).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A snow tooth for a snow tiller for preparing the snowpack of ski slopes; the snow tooth comprising a first projection having a first height and a second projection having a second height, the first height and the second height; the snow tooth being shaped so as to be connected to a rotating shaft and hav...