Patents for Summer 2026
Spring Keepers and Spring Assemblies Incorporating the Same
US Patent 12,698,813
Published August 4, 2026
Inventor: Matthew Owens, Glendale, CA, USA
Assignee: Delta Scientific Corporation, Palmdale, CA, USA
A spring keeper for maintaining a high energy spring includes an outer barrel, an inner barrel slideable within the outer barrel, a first centerer fitted inside the inner barrel, the first centerer including a first base and a first projection projecting axially from the first base for being received within a first end portion of a spring, and a second centerer fitted inside the outer barrel, the second centerer including a second base and a second projection projecting axially from the second base for being received within a second end portion of the spring.
Flat Spring
US Patent 12,698,814
Published August 4, 2026
Inventors: Lars Borchardt, Welzheim, Germany; Gunter Buerkle, Auenwald, Germany; and Rainer Schiessle, Schwieberdingen, Germany
Assignee: Christian Bauer GmbH + CO. KG, Germany
A flat shaped spring may include a spring element. The spring element may have, in a longitudinal section along a central longitudinal axis extending along an axial direction, two profile halves disposed on opposite sides of the central longitudinal axis. The two profile halves may each have a first profile portion and a second profile portion. The first profile portion may have a curvature opposed to the second profile portion. Two outer ends of the spring element facing away from the central longitudinal axis and which lie opposite one another in a longitudinal direction extending perpendicularly to the axial direction may be connected to one another via at least one connection element such that the spring element and the at least one connection element collectively form a closed profile in the longitudinal section.
Wire Coating Removal Device and Wire Forming System
US Patent 12,695,280
Published July 28, 2026
Inventors: Eiji Obayashi, Nagoya, Japan; Takashi Nojima, Nagoya, Japan; and Ryota Fukatsu, Owariasahi, Japan
Assignee: Asahi-Seiki Manufacturing Co., Ltd, Owariasahi, Japan
A wire coating removal device includes: a wire feed path; a pair of first rotary tools that remove a coating of the wire at a first position on the wire feed path; a first rotary drive mechanism that rotationally drives the pair of first rotary tools; a pair of second rotary tools that remove the coating of the wire at a second position; a second rotary drive mechanism that rotationally drives the pair of second rotary tools; a first tool distance changing mechanism that makes the pair of first rotary tools approach or separates from each other; and a second tool distance changing mechanism that makes the pair of second rotary tools approach or separates from each other, wherein the pair of first rotary tools remove a part of the coating of the wire and the pair of second rotary tools then remove a remainder of the coating.\
Method for Producing a Nonlinear Cylindrical Spring and Use of Such a Spring
US Patent 12,693,689
Published July 28, 2026
Inventors: Gregor Christoffer Gebel, Ludwigsfelde, Germany; and Carsten Clemen, Mittenwalde, Germany
Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG, Blankenfelde-Mahlow, Germany
A method for producing a nonlinear cylindrical spring produced by winding or coiling a spring wire having wire diameters varying over its length and formed from a blank with a constant diameter. A drum roller shapes the blank and, between the outer lateral surface of an inner rotor driven in rotation about a central longitudinal axis and the inner lateral surface of a drum concentric with the rotor, has an annular gap which tapers continuously from an input side to an output side, the clear opening width of which, viewed in the radial direction, is greater than the diameter of the blank on the input side and equal to or smaller than the minimum wire diameter of the spring wire on the output side and the blank is shaped by moving it into the annular gap from the input side to the output side.
Steel Wire
US Patent 12,612,675
Published July 28, 2026
Inventors: Shinya Teramoto, Tokyo, Japan; Yutaka Neishi, Tokyo, Japan; Michimasa Aono, Tokyo, Japan; Satoru Mineta, Tokyo, Japan; Shoichi Suzuki, Tokyo, Japan; and Tatsuro Ochi, Tokyo, Japan
Assignees: Nippon Steel Corporation, Tokyo, Japan; and Nippon Steel SG Wire Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
A steel wire which has excellent cold coiling workability, and which has an excellent fatigue limit when made into a spring is provided. A chemical composition of the steel wire according to the present, embodiment containing, in mass %, C: 0.50 to 0.80%, Si: 1.20 to less than 2.50%, Mn: 0.25 to 1.00%, P: 0.020% or less, S: 0.020% or less, Cr: 0.40 to 1.90%, V: 0.05 to 0.60%, and N: 0.0100% or less, with the balance being Fe and impurities. In the steel wire, a number density of V-based precipitates having a maximum diameter ranging from 2 to 10 nm is 5000 to 80000 pieces/μm3.
Alloy Wire Rod and Preparation Method and Application Thereof
US Patent 12,606,889
Published July 21, 2026
Inventors: Minfeng Tang, Xiamen, China; Yijin Fang, Xiamen, China; Sheng Lv, Xiamen, China; Donghong Guo, Xiamen, China; Xianyue Wu, Xiamen, China; Fusheng Peng, Xiamen, China
Assignee: Xiamen Honglu Tungsten Molybdenum Industry Co., Ltd., Xiamen, China
The present disclosure relates an alloy wire rod and a preparation method and application thereof. The alloy wire rod is made of a tungsten alloy and the tungsten alloy contains tungsten and an oxide of lanthanum. The alloy wire rod has a wire diameter of equal to or less than 100 μm; and the alloy wire rod has a tensile strength of greater than 3800 MPa. The wire diameter of the alloy wire rod is equal to or less than 60 μm; the diameter of a push-pull core wire of the alloy wire rod is less than 350 μm; the elastic ultimate strength of the alloy wire rod is greater than 2500 MPa; and the tensile strength of the alloy wire is greater than 4200 MPa. In the present disclosure, the alloy wire rod having ultra-high strength and good toughness is obtained by doping an oxide of lanthanum.
Coiling Machine, Method for Manufacturing Coil Spring and Coil Spring
US Patent 12,686,082
Published July 21, 2026
Inventors: Takuya Sato, Yokohama, Japan; Yuichiro Yamauchi, Yokohama, Japan; Takeshi Furuse, Yokohama, Japan; and Ryo Tanaka, Yokohama, Japan
Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Yokohama, Japan
A coiling machine includes a laser heating machine configured to irradiate a wire formed into a helical shape with laser light to thereby heat a part of the wire and cutting components configured to cut a portion of the wire after the irradiation of the laser light is stopped, a temperature of the portion being higher than before irradiated with the laser light.
Tungsten Wire, Tungsten Wire Processing Method Using the Same and Electrolyzed Wire
US Patent 12,606,890
Published July 21, 2026
Inventors: Hitoshi Aoyama, Yokohama, Japan; Hideaki Baba, Yokohama, Japan; and Kenji Tomokiyo, Yokohama, Japan
Assignee: Niterra Materials Co., Ltd., Yokohama, Japan
A tungsten wire according to an embodiment is a tungsten wire made of a W alloy containing rhenium, and includes a mixture on at least a part of a surface thereof, the mixture contains W, C and O as constituent elements and taking a radial cross-sectional thickness of the mixture as A mm and a diameter of the tungsten wire as B mm, an average value of a ratio A/B of A to B is 0.3% to 0.8%.
Steel Wire for Machine Structural Parts and Method for Manufacturing the Same
US Patent 12,595,527
Published July 7, 2026
Inventors: Yosuke Matsumoto, Kobe, Japan; Kenshi Ikeda, Kobe, Japan; Takuya Kochi, Kobe, Japan; Masayuki Sakata, Kobe, Japan; Tatsunori Uchida, Kobe, Japan; Koji Yamashita, Kobe, Japan; Yuta Inoue, Kobe, Japan
Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd., Kobe, Japan
A steel wire for machine structural parts may include Fe, inevitable impurities and, by mass: 0.05 to 0.60% C; 0.005 to 0.50% Si; 0.30 to 1.20% Mn; more than 0 to 0.050% P; more than 0 to 0.050% S; 0.001 to 0.10% Al; more than 0 to 1.5% Cr; and more than 0 to 0.02% N. An area of cementite present at ferrite grain boundaries in an area of all cementite of the steel wire may be 32% or more. When a C content (% by mass) of a steel is expressed as [C], an average circular-equivalent diameter of all the cementite is (1.668-2.13 [C]) μm or more and (1.863-2.13 [C]) μm or less.
Coil Springs, Pocketed Coil Springs Assemblies and Mattresses Including the Same
US Patent 12,680,588
Published July 14, 2026
Inventors: Brian Manuszak, Thomasville, NC, USA; and Kevin Tar, Summerfield, NC, USA
Assignee: Sealy Technology LLC, Trinity, NC, USA
A coil spring comprises a continuous wire forming a lowermost convolution, an uppermost convolution and a plurality of helical intermediate convolutions. The coil spring is divided into an upper portion and a lower portion. The intermediate convolutions of the lower portion have a diameter greater than or equal to a lower minimum diameter and the pitch between each of the convolutions of the lower portion is greater than or equal to a lower minimum pitch. The intermediate convolutions of the upper portion have a diameter greater than or equal to an upper minimum diameter and the pitch between each of the convolutions of the upper portion is less than or equal to an upper maximum pitch. The upper minimum diameter is greater than, less than or equal to the lower minimum diameter and the upper maximum pitch is less than the lower minimum pitch to provide a non-linear and variable response.
Method for Testing and Manufacturing Spiral Springs for a Timepiece
US Patent 12,663,760
Published June 23, 2026
Inventors: David Gachet, Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Kevin Soobbarayen, Pontarlier, France; and Susana Tobenas, Boudry, Switzerland
Assignee: Richemont International SA, Villars-sur-Glâne, Switzerland
A method for inspecting a spiral or a spiral blank arranged to form a spiral, the spiral having to exhibit at least one predetermined resonant frequency, the inspecting method including the following steps: a. applying to the spiral or to the spiral blank a time-varying vibrational excitation to cover a predetermined frequency range, b. identifying at least one characteristic of a resonant frequency, such as a resonance peak, of the spiral or of the spiral blank during the vibrational excitation over the predetermined frequency range, c. submitting to a predicting machine the resonant frequency characteristic identified in the step b. to determine a stiffness of the spiral or of the spiral blank and/or determine whether or not a dimensional correction of the spiral or of the spiral blank is necessary to obtain the predetermined resonant frequency.
Pressure Relief Valve with Dual-Function Spring
US Patent 12,638,092
Published May 26, 2026
Inventors: Cesar Cain Chavez Sandoval, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Juan Lopez Marrufo, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
Assignee: PHINIA Jersey Holdings LLC, Wilmington, DE, USA
A pressure relief valve includes a valve body having an inner wall defining a cylindrical bore. The inner wall includes a threaded region having a plurality of threads. The valve includes a pressure control calibration spring including a calibration portion and a force application portion. The calibration portion is threaded into the threads of the threaded region. The valve body includes an aperture in fluid communication with the cylindrical bore. An inner perimeter of the aperture defines a valve seat. A valve member is receivable on the valve seat. The force application portion urges the valve member into engagement with the valve seat and has a pitch that is greater than a pitch of the calibration portion. Rotation of the calibration portion in the threads of the threaded region of the valve body adjusts the spring force applied to the valve member by the force application portion.