ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,980, issued on May 13, was assigned to Telair International GmbH (Miesbach, Germany).

"Side guide adapter, side guide system, cargo deck, and method for converting a cargo deck" was invented by Andreas Patzlsperger (Waakirchen, Germany) and Raimo Utsch (Vogtareuth, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention relates to a side guide adapter for guiding and/or retaining a cargo item in an aircraft, comprising at least one fastening element for fastening to a rail section, in particular a perforated rail section, of a side guide, at least one spacer element for bridging a distance to the cargo item, wherein the spacer e...