ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,338,681, issued on June 24, was assigned to Regalo International LLC (Burnsville, Minn.).
"Retractable flexible gate" was invented by Shannon R. Bickel (Lakeville, Minn.) and Michael P. Lane (Chaska, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A manually pullable out and automatically retractable flexible barrier apparatus for engagement between first and second surfaces having a base that includes a foot, a head, and a spool portion between the foot and the head that spools in and spools out the flexible barrier. A coil spring is wound about a nonrotatable support tube in the spool, is fixed to the top of the nonrotatable support tube, and is ...