ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,330,901, issued on June 17, was assigned to Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. (Aichi, Japan).

"Paper feeding roll and method for manufacturing same" was invented by Kazushi Yamaguchi (Aichi, Japan), Hirotoshi Matsuda (Aichi, Japan), Satoshi Endo (Aichi, Japan) and Manabu Sakuda (Aichi, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A paper feeding roll includes a shaft body and an elastic material layer. A first outer diameter portion and a second outer diameter portion having a larger outer diameter than the first outer diameter portion are provided in a portion where the elastic material layer is provided. A sloping portion is provided connecting between t...