ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,607,196, issued on April 21, was assigned to BINDER GmbH (Tuttlingen, Germany).

"Shaft seal for airtight rotary guidance of a shaft through a wall" was invented by Emeka Ndubueze (Erdweg, Germany) and Kjell Deking (Dauchingen, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A climate chamber apparatus for airtight, rotatable guiding a shaft through an opening of a climate chamber wall can include a roller bearing for receiving the shaft and a one-piece seal of an elastic material. The one-piece seal can include a roller-bearing receiving section, with which the roller bearing is connected, a wall receiving section, and a flexible connection sect...