ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,492,858, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to TriTeq Lock and Security LLC (Elk Grove Village, Ill.).
"Vending lock" was invented by William Denison (North Barrington, Ill.) and Calin Roatis (Long Grove, Ill.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A cooler and freezer access control system locks a cooler or freezer when occurrence of an event is detected that requires limiting access to the inside of the cooler or freezer. Examples of such events include the loss of power to the cooler or freezer for a predetermined period of time, the opening of the cooler or freezer door for longer than an allowed time, the loss of functionality of a temperature p...