ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,617,521, issued on May 5, was assigned to Textron Innovations Inc. (Providence, R.I.).
"Coiling foreign object debris cover" was invented by Steven Daniel Schmoll (Wichita, Kan.) and Thomas Neal Gamber (Wichita, Kan.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A FOD cover system including an elongated slider made of a non-stretchable, flexible material, a first roller, a second roller, and a roller support. The slider has a first end and a second end opposite the first end, and the slider is slidable between two spaced-apart portions of a control housing and mechanically actuatable fore and aft by a lever extending through an opening of the slider. The...