ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,578,033, issued on March 17.
"Valve" was invented by Asela Bandara Dharmadasa (London), Nigel Stephen Blair (Suffolk, Great Britain), Andrew Douglas McCulloch (Suffolk, Great Britain), Manish Kumar Patel (London) and Carlos MH Gomez (London).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A valve for use with breathing assistance apparatus comprises first, second and third ports (21, 22, 23) for respective connection to a patient breathing tube, a first ventilation apparatus and a second ventilation application. The valve includes a bistable valve mechanism having a first stable configuration in which the first port is in fluid communication with the sec...