ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,696,943, issued on Aug. 4, was assigned to KOKEN LTD. (Tokyo).
"Mask" was invented by Seiji Taguchi (Tokyo) and Shingo Ishikawa (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A mask includes a filter portion that is formed of an air-permeable sheet material and covers at least a nose and a mouth in wearing; a substantially annular face-contacting body that is joined to the filter portion, and is in contact with at least a vicinity of the nose and a vicinity of the mouth on a face in wearing; and a hook string to be hooked around either a head or an ear so that the filter portion and the face-contacting body are worn to the face. Here, a protrusion...