ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,942, issued on July 15, was assigned to Renishaw PLC (Wotton-under-Edge, Great Britain).
"Rotary encoder" was invented by Finlay Jonathan Evans (Malmesbury, Great Britain) and James Reynolds Henshaw (Stroud, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A rotary scale apparatus for an encoder apparatus including a planar disc on which at least one track including scale features is provided, in which the planar disc includes a hole through its centre for receiving a cylindrical shaft, and in which the rotary scale member includes at least three cantilevered spring members which are provided substantially in plane with the planar disc a...