ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,495,899, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to WHIRLPOOL Corp. (Benton Harbor, Mich.).
"Beverage holder" was invented by Timothy J. Buszka (Douglas, Mich.), Kamil El Sayed (Wroclaw, Poland) and Sheila P. Stafford (Stevensville, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A beverage holder includes a platform with a slot disposed therethrough. First and second L-shaped rails extend downwardly from an underside of the platform on either side of the slot. The first and second rails are configured to retain cans, at upper portions of the cans, in a sliding manner therebetween. The slot is centrally positioned between the first and second L-shaped rail...