ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,474,012, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to Whirlpool Corp. (Benton Harbor, Mich.).
"Collapsible pattern" was invented by Arunkumar Harikrishnasamy (Stevensville, Mich.) and Sai B. Krishna (Pune, India).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An insulating structure for an appliance including a first panel, a second panel coupled to the first panel, wherein the first and second panels define a cavity, an insulation material disposed within the cavity, at least one central flattening portion of the first and second panels, the at least one central flattening portion defining an enlarged area of the cavity in a rest state and having deflection contr...