US Patent Issued to Washington State University on April 7 for "Flex grip sports ball pitching machine tip" (Washington Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 7 -- United States Patent no. 12,594,477, issued on April 7, was assigned to Washington State University (Pullman, Wash.).

"Flex grip sports ball pitching machine tip" was invented by Jeffrey Ryan Kensrud (Pullman, Wash.) and Derek Durand Nevins (Pullman, Wash.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A unique configuration is introduced herein for providing a ball machine pitching tip. A linear actuator is coupled to the disclosed ball tip herein having at least one member protruding outwardly from a base and radially positioned about a coupling aperture. Positioned selected frictional contact points configured to an inner surface of the at least one protruding member enables an...