ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,553,495, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to YKK Corp. (Tokyo).
"Cord stopper" was invented by Madoka Nanbu (Toyama, Japan) and Yohei Shimizu (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A cord stopper includes: a socket; and a plug. The plug is provided with a holding portion, a pair of guide portions, and a pair of operation portions that are plate bodies being continuous with tip ends of the guide portions and have surfaces parallel to the protrusion direction of the holding portion. When the plug is moved toward an insertion through port, a string is clamped and fixed between an inner wall surface of the socket and the plug. When the plug is...