ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,325,504, issued on June 10, was assigned to World View Enterprises Inc. (Tucson, Ariz.).
"Magnetic ballast dispenser" was invented by Timothy James Basta (Tucson, Ariz.) and Daniel Lee Robinson (Tucson, Ariz.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A ballast dispenser system and method for flight vehicles, such as high altitude lighter than air vehicles. The system passively retains ballast without power and deploys ballast in response to applying power. An electro-permanent magnet passively retains ballast within the dispenser. Application of power to a coil produces an opposing magnetic field that reduces the overall strength of a net magnetic ...