US Patent Issued to The Boeing on May 26 for "Friction stir welding tool and welding method" (Washington, Missouri, South Dakota Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,636,728, issued on May 26, was assigned to The Boeing Co. (Arlington, Va.).

"Friction stir welding tool and welding method" was invented by Michael Philip Shemkunas (Mukilteo, Wash.), Scott Anthony Rose (Wentzville, Mo.), Mario A. Reyes (Mercer Island, Wash.), Sean Michael Thuston (High Ridge, Mo.) and Bryan Tweedy (Piedmont, S.D.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A friction stir welding (FSW) tool includes a pin configured to extend through a joint line between edges of two work pieces and to rotate to perform a FSW process that welds the two work pieces together at the joint line. A housing is coupled to a distal end of the pin to enable r...