ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,280,344, issued on April 22, was assigned to SWIMC LLC (Cleveland).
"Wear-indicating mixing and dispersion blade" was invented by Rudolph S. Merick (Broadview Heights, Ohio) and Christopher Wihlon (Louisville, Ky.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A mixing system for pigment dispersions, colorants, paints, and coatings, including a mixing or dispersion blade having a disc having top and bottom surfaces and an outboard edge, vanes circumferentially spaced around and extending from the outboard edge of the disc, each vane oriented non-horizontal to the top surface of the disc, and a wear-indicating notch in at least one of the vanes; and a tan...