ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,954, issued on May 13, was assigned to The Boeing Co. (Arlington, Va.).
"Thin wing drive mechanism" was invented by Kevin R. Tsai (Seattle) and Mark Steven Good (Seattle).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A flap actuation mechanism incorporates a coupler rod eccentrically supported at an aft end and at a forward end. The coupler rod is configured to translate from an aft position to a forward position. An inboard crank arm is coupled to the rotary actuator and engaged to the aft end of the coupler rod. The inboard crank is configured rotate responsive to rotation of the rotary actuator thereby inducing translation of the coupler rod. An ...