ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,371,872, issued on July 29, was assigned to SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES LTD. (Tokyo).
"Shovel" was invented by Tetsuji Ono (Chiba, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The shovel includes an attachment including a boom; an arm; and a bucket, wherein the bucket includes a first part and a second part, shapes of the first and second parts being mutually different, and wherein the attachment performs, in response to an operation of the attachment, a first action or a second action, the first operation causing the attachment to activate such that the first part moves along a predetermined trajectory, and the second operation causing the attach...