ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,585,898, issued on March 24, was assigned to R-V Industries Inc. (Honey Brook, Pa.).
"Apparatus and method for applying bar codes to pellet-shaped articles" was invented by E. Michael Ackley (Mannington, N.J.) and Daniel J. Palmer (North Wales, Pa.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A conveyer mechanism (110) may include one or more composition inspection units provided along the intended product transport path. The product's composition, e.g., it's ink composition, is compared with a predetermined standard, to determine whether the product is acceptable. A bar code (48, 45.1, 47.1, 85) may be provided to an external surface of the article ...