ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,441,554, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to Walmart Apollo LLC (Bentonville, Ark.).
"Hangar guide" was invented by Jack Magliocco (Delanson, N.Y.), Jason Bigler (Hooper, Utah) and Kevin Behr (Cherry Valley, N.Y.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Examples provide a hanger guide for diverting items having a hanger hook away from dividers on a sloped surface of a sorting machine as the hooked items move through a channel defined by one or more of the dividers. The hanger guide includes a diameter greater than the diameter of a hook on the hooked items preventing the hook from catching on the hanger guide. The hanger guide substantially covers ...