ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,426,715, issued on Sept. 30, was assigned to TOYOTA BOSHOKU K.K. (Aichi-Ken, Japan).
"Armrest" was invented by Shinji Kamiya (Aichi-ken, Japan) and Akihisa Ninomiya (Aichi-ken, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An armrest includes a base member serving as a framework, a cushioning pad provided on the base member, a cover wrapping the base member and the cushioning pad, and a planar heater disposed such that an electric heating wire is laid between the cushioning pad and the cover. The base member has an outer peripheral surface having a curved surface that is curved downward from an upper surface of the base member. The cushioning pa...