ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,668,866, issued on June 30, was assigned to RTX Corp. (Farmington, Conn.).
"Airfoil external masking for internal aluminization" was invented by Alex C. Freedman (Rocky Hill, Conn.) and Daniel M. Franklin (East Longmeadow, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A masking apparatus for masking a part during coating and comprising at least two sintered pieces of a mask material. The pieces have an assembled condition forming a compartment shaped to accommodate an airfoil of the part. The pieces have an average overall composition of: nickel as a largest by-weight constituent; aluminum as a second largest by-weight constituent; and chromium a...