ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,304,235, issued on May 20, was assigned to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (New Britain, Conn.).
"Jam resistant chalk reel" was invented by Gregory David Parker (Charlotte, N.C.), Kan-Ping Lo (Taichung, Taiwan) and Gabriel A. Haboubi (Abingdon, Md.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A chalk reel includes a housing defining a chalk chamber and an opening from the chalk chamber; a spool positioned within the chalk chamber; and a line wound on the spool and extending through the opening, the line having a width of dimension X. The spool comprises an axial hub and a sidewall. The sidewall comprises a plurality of apertures extending through the side...