ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 4 -- United States Patent no. 12,318,918, issued on June 3, was assigned to Raytheon Co. (Arlington, Va.).
"Flexible vacuum assembly fixture" was invented by Judith E. Young (Tucson, Ariz.), Brent Carper (Tucson, Ariz.) and Ronnie Williams (Tucson, Ariz.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A flexible vacuum assembly fixture including a base; at least one arm coupled to the base; a suction cup fitting coupled to the at least one arm distal from the base; a vacuum generator fluidly coupled to the suction cup fitting via a vacuum tube; and a grounding feature configured to electrically ground the suction cup fitting, the at least one arm, and the base."
The patent was filed on ...