US Patent Issued to Whirlpool on Sept. 23 for "Laundry treating appliance with a panel" (Michigan, California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,421,643, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to Whirlpool Corp. (Benton Harbor, Mich.).

"Laundry treating appliance with a panel" was invented by Kurt L. Masciovecchio (Saint Joseph, Mich.), Daniel Polonsky (Stevensville, Mich.), Mark Schulz (San Carlos, Calif.) and Anne Wessel (Saint Joseph, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A laundry treating appliance can include a chassis defining an interior and having at least a front wall, with the front wall having a component access port providing access to an internal component of the laundry treating appliance. The laundry treating appliance can also have a panel coupled to the front wall, wi...