ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,941, issued on July 15, was assigned to Renishaw PLC (Wotton-under-Edge, Great Britain).
"Encoder apparatus" was invented by Colin Keith Howley (Stonehouse, Great Britain), Simon Eliot McAdam (Nailsworth, Great Britain) and Adam Michael Whiting (Trowbridge, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An incremental encoder apparatus including: a scale including a series of periodic features defining an optical incremental scale, and at least one magnetic reference mark; and a readhead. The readhead includes at least one incremental sensor configured to detect light from the optical incremental scale and to output at least one signal...