US Patent Issued to BOSTON ENGINEERING on Sept. 8 for "Deploying a rigid inflatable structure" (Massachusetts, Vermont Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,729,988, issued on Sept. 8, was assigned to BOSTON ENGINEERING Corp. (Waltham, Mass.).

"Deploying a rigid inflatable structure" was invented by David J. Shane (Woburn, Mass.), Michael Rufo (Hanover, Mass.), Todd Scrimgeour (North Hero, Vt.) and Jonathan Osman (South Boston, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An underwater, expandable structure includes first and second helical coaxial tubes wound in opposite directions and bound together by a plurality of cords. The structure includes sensors placed on the structure at various locations, and relative spacing among the sensors remains stable once the tubes are inflated with water. The s...