US Patent Issued to Walmart Apollo on Aug. 4 for "Pallet return assembly" (Wisconsin Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,698,167, issued on Aug. 4, was assigned to Walmart Apollo LLC (Bentonville, Ark.).

"Pallet return assembly" was invented by James P. Thomas (Tomah, Wis.) and Jacob A. Vesterfelt (Viola, Wis.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A pallet return assembly includes at least one support member, a bracket member, a base member including a stopper member, and a lever that, when actuated, moves the base member and its stopper member from a pallet catch position to a pallet release position. In the pallet catch position, the stopper member catches a bottom of a pallet positioned on the roller tracks of the pallet bay and restricts the pallet from moving...