ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,269,459, issued on April 8, was assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Toyota, Japan).
"Hybrid electric vehicle" was invented by Naoki Nakanishi (Nagoya, Japan), Masato Yoshikawa (Toyota, Japan) and Hironobu Aratake (Chiryu, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hybrid electric vehicle including: (a) an engagement device disposed between an engine and an electric motor; (b) a transmission disposed between the electric motor and drive wheels; (c) an electric storage device configured to supply an electric power to the electric motor; and (d) a control apparatus. When the engine is to be started, the engagement device is engaged to transmit a t...