ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,420,496, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (Wichita, Kan.).
"Method for using expendable flexures for forming composite laminates" was invented by Mark Anthony Wadsworth (Wichita, Kan.) and Robert Raymond Meinders (Wichita, Kan.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system and method for forming a composite part with multiple bends or curves, including placing an unformed composite laminate material onto a flexure and placing the flexure onto an engagement surface of a first forming tool. The flexure is a sheet of bendable material. The first forming tool has a first side surface, the first engagement surface, and a...