US Patent Issued to Textron Innovations on June 23 for "Folding step system" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,662,233, issued on June 23, was assigned to Textron Innovations Inc. (Providence, R.I.).

"Folding step system" was invented by Michael Ross Wilkinson (North Richland Hills, Texas), James Everett Kooiman (Fort Worth, Texas), Clegg Benjamin Brian Smith (Fort Worth, Texas), Jeffrey Matthew Williams (Aledo, Texas), Tjepke Heeringa (Dallas) and David G. Carlson (North Richland Hills, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A folding step system includes a housing forming an interior space and a step comprising a step surface. The step is movable between a stowed configuration in which substantially all of the step surface is disposed within the ...