ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,241,524, issued on March 4, was assigned to THIELE GMBH & Co. KG (Iserlohn, Germany).
"Block lock with short locking distance" was invented by Janis Quinting (Menden, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A block lock for connecting two chain ends, wherein, in the locked state, the block lock has two oppositely located block-lock halves which extend in the longitudinal direction, interengage in a form-fitting manner via a respective stub and stub socket and lock to form at least one accommodating opening, preferably two accommodating openings, for accommodating a chain link. The block-lock halves interengage in a comb-like manner at the...