ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,546,408, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to M&M Oil Tools LLC (Breaux Bridge, La.).
"Cartridge-type ball valve" was invented by Andy Paul Todd (Lafayette, La.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A ball valve includes valve seats surrounding a valve ball and a valve housing surrounding the valve seats. A central flow passage extends through the valve seats, the valve ball, and the valve housing. Seals are positioned between a non-vertical bottom wall of each valve seat and corresponding non-vertical end walls of the valve housing. When a fluid pressure is applied to the ball valve in a closed position, one of the valve seats moves away from th...