ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,358,621, issued on July 15, was assigned to Wipaire Inc. (South St. Paul, Minn.).
"Float plane technology" was invented by Robert D. Wiplinger (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention provides a float plane having a fuselage, a wing, and two floats mounted to the fuselage. In one group of embodiments, the float plane is a firefighting float plane that includes a water tank and a water scooping assembly. In another group of embodiments, the float plane includes a spreader bar suspension assembly. In certain embodiments, the float plane is a firefighting float plane that includes a water tank, a water scoopi...