ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,631,238, issued on May 19, was assigned to Laitram LLC (Harahan, La.).
"Belt closer and method for closing belts" was invented by Matthew Vulpetti (Metairie, La.) and Daniel E. Jackson (Harahan, La.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for closing modular belts and a belt closer having two clamps for clamping to a side edge of a modular flat-top conveyor belt. A ratchet strap or other pulling tool is connected between the two clamps of the belt closer. Once the clamps are clamped to unconnected end sections of a belt, the ratchet strap is used to pull the two sections together so that they can be joined by a hinge rod to form an endles...