ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,576,451, issued on March 17, was assigned to SMW-Autoblok Spannsysteme GmbH (Germany).
"Chuck" was invented by Eckhard Maurer (Oberteuringen, Germany) and Patrick Dannecker (Hardthausen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In the case of a clamping device (1) for holding a workpiece (3) to be machined by a machine tool (2), consisting of a housing (4), at least one clamping jaw (7) mounted in the housing (4) so that it is axially movable and a counter-stop (10) formed by the housing (4), between which the workpiece (3) is clamped or at least two clamping jaws (7, 8, 9) mounted in the housing (4) so they are axially movable, between w...