US Patent Issued to The Boeing on April 8 for "Structurally integrated vacuum tank and method of using the same" (California, South Carolina Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,269,608, issued on April 8, was assigned to The Boeing Co. (Arlington, Va.).

"Structurally integrated vacuum tank and method of using the same" was invented by Robert E. Grip (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), Aaron J. Kutzmann (Long Beach, Calif.) and Nathaniel J. Noel (North Charleston, S.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "There is provided a structurally integrated vacuum tank that includes a vacuum tank main portion extending between vacuum tank end portions. The vacuum tank main portion includes a vacuum tank skin forming a cylinder. The vacuum tank skin has a longitudinal cross section with a profile geometry configured for buckling pre...