ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,606,258, issued on April 21, was assigned to Caterpillar Inc. (Peoria, Ill.).
"Track joint assembly retainer plate" was invented by Thomas Ellmann (Groveland, Ill.), Brian Konrad Loeffler (Germantown Hills, Ill.) and Jacob John Pitman (Peoria, Ill.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A track joint assembly may include a first track shoe including at least one forward pin lug, a second track shoe including at least one back pin lug, a pin extending through a pin bore coupling the first track shoe to the second track shoe, a retainer plate positioned within the pin bore and including an interior surface adjacent the pin, an exterior surface op...