ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,534,242, issued on Jan. 27.

"Systems and methods for applying a disposable wrapping on a vehicle connector" was invented by Fernando Almarza (Atizapan de Zaragoza, Mexico) and Carlos Garza (Coyoacan, Mexico).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus comprising a housing, a covering storage, a retractable guide and a heating element is disclosed. The housing includes an elongated opening configured to receive an external object and enable the external object to slide in a housing interior portion. The covering storage stores and dispenses a flexible covering. The retractable guide is disposed in the housing, and configured to retractably...