ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,539,894, issued on Feb. 3, was assigned to ALSTOM HOLDINGS (Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, France).

"Frame structure for vehicle" was invented by Stephane Roll (Brumath, France), Bernard Tritz (Niederbronn les Bains, France), Joel Samain (Obies, France) and Jeremy Keersbulik (La Jarne, France).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A floor structure for a railway vehicle includes a composite panel. The panel includes a lower metal plate, an upper metal plate, and a layer of thermal insulating material arranged between the lower and upper metal plates. The layer of thermal insulating material includes a plate of wood or bark."

The patent was filed on June ...