ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,765,580, issued on Oct. 20, was assigned to Blue Buffalo Enterprises Inc. (Wilton, Conn.).
"Method and apparatus for producing spiral pet treat" was invented by Lynn K Barton (St. Louis Park, Minn.), Emily Lauren Fort (Cave Springs, Ark.), Megan Keough (Minneapolis) and Jie Sun (Plymouth, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and apparatus for the automated mass production of spiral body pet treats, particularly chewable, spiraling rawhide-type pet treats, employs an extruder for extruding at least one rope in the form of a spiraling cross-sectional body having a plurality of radially spaced layers and an outer terminal end porti...