US Patent Issued to The Boeing on Nov. 18 for "Methods for configuring a shape of a tool and associated systems and methods for manufacturing a composite structure" (South Carolina Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,472,705, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to The Boeing Co. (Arlington, Va.).

"Methods for configuring a shape of a tool and associated systems and methods for manufacturing a composite structure" was invented by Luis F. Velasquez (Ladson, S.C.) and Allen J. Halbritter (Summerville, S.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for configuring a shape of a tool from an initial shape to a reconfigured shape includes localized heating a portion of the tool to yield a heated portion of the tool and mechanically manipulating the heated portion of the tool to achieve the reconfigured shape."

The patent was filed on April 1, 2022, under Applica...