ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,692,943, issued on July 28, was assigned to CARL FREUDENBERG KG (Weinheim, Germany).

"Seal and method of making the same" was invented by Gonzalo Barillas (Alsfeld-Altenburg, Germany), Albert Ilinseer (Seevetal, Germany), Andrej Fink (Seevetal, Germany), Jens Kuhnert (Buchholz, Germany), Frank Struebing (Ammersbek, Germany) and Roland Fietz (Neustadt-Momberg, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A seal, including a spiralized profile string of at least one thermoplastic elastomeric material, the spiralized profile string including a retaining portion and at least one sealing lip which are arranged opposite each other in a radial direct...