ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,397,972, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to AptarGroup Inc. (Crystal Lake, Ill.).
"Dispensing closure" was invented by Curt Prusko (Wauwatosa, Wis.) and Kelly Smith (East Troy, Wis.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A dispensing closure (40, 40A, 40B) for a fluent substance-containing system, such as a container, includes a body (54, 54A, 54B) for receiving the fluent substance from the system, and a pivotable actuator (60, 60A, 60B) assembled with the body (54, 54A, 54B). The actuator (60, 60A, 60B) has a back region (116) opposite its outlet end (132) and having a central cam element (150, 150A, 150B) for frictionally engaging the closure...