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Two TSA employees at Los Angeles International Airport turned a makeshift organizer—a paper towel tube taped to an empty glove box—into the first version of a 3D-printed holder for baggage-search supplies. TSA Manager Kevin Peinado and Program Analyst Maria Maranon refined the tool with feedback from officers; TSA and a trade publication report that it received a U.S. patent.
What the LAX TSA employees invented
Peinado and Maranon developed a holder for baggage Notice of Inspection (NOI) slips, zip ties and baggage keys. The goal was to keep these small but necessary items together and within reach while officers searched bags. Homeland Security Today reported that NOIs had been kept in drawers or set on top of explosives trace detection equipment cabinets, where they could fall to the floor.
How a makeshift prototype became a 3D-printed holder
The first version
The initial prototype was simple: a paper towel tube taped to an empty glove box. It was an improvised way to bring supplies that had been scattered or stored separately into one accessible place. That prototype was not the finished patented design.
Feedback shaped the design
Peinado and Maranon gathered feedback from baggage officers, then used computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D printing to produce and refine multiple versions. According to the report, officer feedback prompted them to add magnets to the back. The magnets allow staff to adjust the holder’s height or move it when operational needs change.
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The report describes rounds of testing and refinement, but does not give a testing protocol or measured results. It also does not quantify any change in search time, lost supplies or other operational outcomes.
What is established about the patent
TSA’s employee-story listing, dated September 21, 2026, and a Homeland Security Today report published October 1, 2026, say the holder received a U.S. patent. The reporting available here does not identify a patent number, application, grant date, patent-register inventor listing or claims. It therefore supports describing the holder as reported patented, but not details about the patent’s legal scope or status beyond that.
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Vanessa Couch, TSA Lift Program manager, said: “Maria and Kevin saw an opportunity to make the work easier and more efficient for officers in the baggage environment, and they followed that idea all the way to a U.S. patent.”
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