US Patent Issued to Innovex International on April 7 for "Systems and methods for rigidizing a seal" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 7 -- United States Patent no. 12,595,714, issued on April 7, was assigned to Innovex International Inc. (Houston).

"Systems and methods for rigidizing a seal" was invented by John Stepchinsky (Spring, Texas), David A. Scantlebury (Richmond, Texas), Todd L. Scaggs (Fulshear, Texas), Gregory K. Norwood (Boerne, Texas), John Trahan (Houston), Adam Forness (Cypress, Texas) and Andrew B. Mitchell (Houston).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system includes a seal assembly configured to retain a casing hanger within a wellhead. The seal assembly includes: a main body including at least one tapered surface on an upper end thereof; a lock ring coupled to the main body and configur...