Incheon City has become the first in the nation to receive a patent for the 'Manhole Location Notification Buoy Device.' The city's Waterworks Headquarters announced on the 8th that they recently registered a patent for a device that alerts pedestrians walking in flooded areas where manhole covers have been displaced due to heavy rain.
This patent is characterized by its ability to warn pedestrians of fall hazards by having a buoy inside the manhole rise to the surface when the manhole cover is displaced in low-lying areas due to localized heavy rain and typhoons caused by climate change, thereby preventing accidents in advance.
The Manhole Location Notification Buoy Device was jointly devised by Incheon City and five officials from the Waterworks Headquarters to prevent the recurrence of manhole fall accidents that occurred during the heavy rain disaster in the metropolitan area at the end of July last year, and a public servant invention was submitted.
In accordance with the 'Ordinance on the Promotion of Intellectual Property in Incheon City,' the city succeeded the patent rights after review by the Intellectual Property Committee and filed the patent in December last year. Subsequently, Incheon City (managing department: Waterworks Headquarters) was registered as the patent holder in June.
An official from Incheon City's Waterworks Headquarters stated, "The patented device is related to citizen safety, and we will continue to apply it in the field, including prototype development."
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