ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 4 -- United States Patent no. 12,320,150, issued on June 3, was assigned to Rexnord Industries LLC (Milwaukee).
"Automatic adjusting barrel lock key" was invented by Eric C. Ergen (West Allis, Wis.) and Bernard Krauska (Waukesha, Wis.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A barrel lock key is configured to unlock a variety of barrel locks requiring various stroke lengths of a barrel lock key to be unlocked. The barrel lock key can be actuated between a neutral position, an intermediate position, and an overthrow position. In the neutral position, there are no outside forces acting on the barrel lock key. In an intermediate position, the barrel lock key can be configured to plac...