ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,490,729, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to Shimano Inc. (Osaka, Japan).
"Dual-bearing reel" was invented by Kouhei Nakamura (Osaka, Japan) and Shunsaku Asaka (Osaka, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A dual bearing reel includes a spool having a bobbin trunk and first and second flanges, a spool shaft including a first supported portion on a first flange side and a second supported portion on a second flange side, and the spool shaft configured to integrally rotate with the spool, a reel body including a first body portion rotatably supporting the first supported portion and a second body portion rotatably supporting the second support...