US Patent Issued to The Boeing on April 14 for "Winglet systems and methods for aircraft" (Washington Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,600,465, issued on April 14, was assigned to The Boeing Co. (Arlington, Va.).

"Winglet systems and methods for aircraft" was invented by Ross Westermeier (Seattle), Paul Edward Black (Seattle), Billy P. Tung (Kent, Wash.), Peter Schupp (Seattle) and Scott Vincent Pugh (Auburn, Wash.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A winglet system is configured to be secured to a wing of an aircraft. The winglet system includes an upper blade, a lower blade, and a cover plate integrally formed with the upper blade and the lower blade. The cover plate covers an opening within a transition joint between the upper blade and the lower blade. The cover plate ...