ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,392,183, issued on Aug. 19, was assigned to Reell Precision Manufacturing Corp. (St. Paul, Minn.).
"Inertial lock friction hinge" was invented by Benjamin Anderson (Scandia, Minn.), George Larson (Roseville, Minn.) and Horace Beale (Bayport, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "One aspect is an inertial lock friction hinge, including a shaft assembly having a shaft assembly recess and a friction assembly having a friction assembly recess. The shaft assembly and the friction assembly are rotatably coupled for relative frictional rotation. The hinge includes a restraining component positioned within the hinge such that when the hinge is in...