USPTO Issues Bolt Seal Patent to J. J. Keller
Patented Design Reduces Waste and Storage Space Needs
For immediate release (December 21, 2023)
Neenah, WI - Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted a new patent for a bolt seal to J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc., a North American leader in safety and regulatory compliance solutions for a wide range of industries, including transportation. The patent application was filed with the USPTO on April 23, 2021.
One of the two inventors, J. J. Keller Portfolio Leader Kevin Kucksdorf, said, “We have the opportunity and obligation to pay close attention to how products are used by fleets and motor carriers and seek ways to improve their performance and usefulness. In that vein, I’m privileged to have contributed to this invention that, in the future, will improve truck drivers’ experience by making the task of handling security seals easier while also reducing storage footprint and waste.”
Bolt Seal Challenges
Most bolt seals in the market today include a plastic tie or “bridge” to keep the two like-numbered parts together in storage so that unlike-numbered parts aren’t accidently locked together. The unique seal number (matching on both the pin head and the barrel) is recorded on the driver’s shipping paperwork.
When ready for use, the bolt seal is removed from the packaging, and the two parts are twisted to separate them prior to installation on the equipment to be secured. The plastic tie then becomes waste material. If not removed, the remaining plastic tie can be sharp and cause cuts. If removed, the plastic tie should be discarded but isn’t always discarded properly.
Additionally, with the plastic tie, the bolt seal parts are not linear. The result is bolt seals are often nested (turned different directions from each other) to help reduce space in storage. However, inevitably there are gaps or void areas left over, and the numbered seals are not lined up neatly in a row in sequential order.
The J. J. Keller Bolt Seal Design
J. J. Keller’s patented keyway solves the problems described above by allowing bolt seals to be stored in a linear fashion with minimum void space and arranged in intuitive sequential order. In addition, there is no plastic waste to dispose of or twisting motion needed to break the barrel and pin apart. The two keyway bolt seal parts are temporarily attached to each other in packaging and then easily separated and locked when securing equipment.
With the patent for the J. J. Keller bolt seal just issued, the bolt seals are not yet commercially available.