ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,584,514, issued on March 24, was assigned to MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES ENGINE & TURBOCHARGER LTD. (Sagamihara, Japan).

"Gas bearing device and turbocharger" was invented by Takaya Futae (Tokyo), Shuichi Isayama (Tokyo), Toru Suzuki (Tokyo) and Naomichi Shibata (Sagamihara, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A gas bearing device using a gas as a working fluid, including: a rotational shaft; a housing where the rotational shaft penetrates; an annular top foil disposed inside the housing and surrounding an outer periphery of the rotational shaft; a back spring disposed between the top foil and the housing, and having a plurality of cre...