US Patent Issued to The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy on May 20 for "Inflatable deck panel with embedded fasteners" (Massachusetts, Rhode Island Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,304,596, issued on May 20, was assigned to The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy.

"Inflatable deck panel with embedded fasteners" was invented by Nicholas A Valm (Dartmouth, Mass.), Paul V Cavallaro (Raynham, Mass.) and Bryon A Nelson (Charlestown, R.I.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An inflatable drop stitch panel and method of use is provided with a plurality of rigid embedded fasteners inserted in apertures in the panel. In the method of use for the inflatable panel, the uninflated panel with embedded fasteners is placed on the deck of a surface ship and secured to deck fittings by tensioned lines. ...