ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,741,511, issued on Sept. 22, was assigned to HOWA PLASTICS Co. LTD. (Toyota, Japan) and ULTRA MANUFACTURING Ltd. (Kitchner, Canada).
"Register" was invented by Katsuaki Okuno (Toyota, Japan) and Yoshiki Torii (Toyota, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In a register 10, coupling between a transmission shaft 65 and a dial control knob 21 and coupling between the transmission shaft 65 and a boss member 73 are each made with a universal joint. Rotation of the dial control knob 21 is transmitted to a damper 19 via the transmission shaft 65, the boss member 73, and a cam member 75. A case member 74 rotatably holds the boss member 73 and th...