ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,692,689, issued on July 28, was assigned to ACO AHLMANN SE & Co. KG (Budelsdorf, Germany).

"Drainage channel and use of a drainage channel in a sanitary facility, in particular a shower facility" was invented by Michael Bohms (Bad Salzungen, Germany), Katrin Kropp (Bad Salzungen, Germany), Christin Schlotzhauer (Gehaus, Germany) and Alexander Tittmar (Dorndorf, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention relates to a drainage channel for sanitary facilities, in particular shower facilities, with a channel body extending in a longitudinal direction, comprising: at least one first channel section having a bottom and at least two s...