ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,398,499, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to Haier US Appliance Solutions Inc. (Wilmington, Del.).

"Washing machine appliance load type detection" was invented by Adam Berry (Louisville, Ky.), Ryan Ellis Leonard (Louisville, Ky.) and Stannard Nathan Phelps (Louisville, Ky.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A washing machine appliance and methods of operating a washing machine appliance are provided. The washing machine appliance includes a tub and a rotatable basket within the tub. A volume of water is flows into the tub, causing a load of articles in the basket to be wetted. A first weight of the load of articles is measured during an initi...