ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,599,953, issued on April 14, was assigned to Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (Wichita, Kan.).
"Method for forming and heat treating near net shape complex structures from sheet metal" was invented by James Michael Wagner Jr. (Wichita, Kan.), Theodore Joseph Eilert (Wichita, Kan.), Rahbar Nasserrafi (Andover, Kan.), Craig Matthew Clasper (Derby, Kan.) and Gerald Eugene Hicks Jr. (Wichita, Kan.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of manufacturing a complex-shaped metal part, including the steps of applying a metallic sheath around a sheet metal workpiece and applying an electric current through the workpiece in the metallic sheath to heat the...