US Patent Issued to Rolls-Royce on July 21 for "Needle apparatus" (British Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,686,180, issued on July 21, was assigned to Rolls-Royce plc (London).

"Needle apparatus" was invented by Kevin M. World (Bristol, Great Britain), Simon Groves (Bristol, Great Britain), Wojciech Wasinski (Bristol, Great Britain) and Neal Wright (Bristol, Great Britain).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A needle apparatus for making a pinning hole in a composite material, the apparatus having a needle with a longitudinal axis, a collar fixed about the needle, a motor having an axis of rotation, and being fixed to the needle such that the needle can be rotated by the motor, the motor and the collar being situated within a motor housing, the mot...