ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,435,978, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to TOPCON Corp. (Tokyo).
"Surveying instrument" was invented by Masaho Kikuchi (Tokyo) and Akinobu Sugiura (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surveying instrument capable of irradiating a spotlight as visible light for centering toward a position below a vertical axis of a surveying instrument main body is configured such that that an irradiation shape of the spotlight is a toric shape. When visible light for centering which passes through a center point of the surveying instrument and is projected on a position right below the surveying instrument is projected in a toric shape having a hole op...