ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,549,069, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG (Herzogenaurach, Germany).
"Drive unit having a rotor shaft" was invented by Daniel Linton (North Canton, Ohio) and Kyle Nelson (Wadsworth, Ohio).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A drive unit includes a motor and a rotor shaft operably coupled with the motor. The rotor shaft has an inner surface that defines a hollow that extends axially from a first opening at a first end of the rotor shaft to a second opening at a second end of the rotor shaft and has a tapered portion that tapers radially inboard as the tapered portion of the inner surface extends axially awa...