US Patent Issued to The Charles Machine Works on April 8 for "Mechanical disconnect for rotation drive" (Ohio Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,270,265, issued on April 8, was assigned to The Charles Machine Works Inc. (Perry, Okla.).

"Mechanical disconnect for rotation drive" was invented by David L. Horst (Ashland, Ohio), BJ Burky (Burbank, Ohio), Tim Casey (Wooster, Ohio), Richard B. Gentry (Jeromesville, Ohio), Stuart Riggenbach (Wooster, Ohio) and Aaron Edward Traxler (Columbia Station, Ohio).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A horizontal directional drilling system. The system has a pilot drill and an exit side drill, with a drill string extending between them. A backreamer is positioned between the drills to enlarge a borehole. The pilot drill pulls and rotates the backreamer...