ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,696,959, issued on Aug. 4, was assigned to Cincinnati Automation & Mechatronics LLC (Beavercreek, Ohio).
"Automatic retention apparatus" was invented by Roger Neil Rovekamp Jr. (Kemah, Texas) and Keith Sawmiller (Beavercreek, Ohio).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for automatically adjusting tension on retention member to hold multiple objects together. Examples include using retention apparatus to obtain optimal fit and use of a human wearable item such as article of footwear. Sensors may be used to sense changes in movement of the article of footwear, of the person wearing it, or of a third object such as a vehicle carrying th...