ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,404,644, issued on Sept. 2, was assigned to VALTIR LLC (Addison, Texas).
"Crash cushion" was invented by Brent Sindorf (Roseville, Calif.) and Michael J. Buehler (Roseville, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A crash cushion includes a pair of laterally spaced and longitudinally extending rails. A diaphragm frame is moveably supported by the rails. An outer guide is coupled to the diaphragm frame and is configured to engage an outboard portion of the rail on the impact side respectively during a lateral impact. The outer guide on the impact side is releasable from the outboard portion of the rail. A pair of laterally spaced inner guid...