US Patent Issued to MCWANE on March 31 for "Reduced assembly force restraining gasket" (Alabama Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,590,660, issued on March 31, was assigned to MCWANE LLC (Birmingham, Ala.).

"Reduced assembly force restraining gasket" was invented by Jeffery J. Jent (Townley, Ala.) and Daniel A. Copeland (Birmingham, Ala.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A gasket, a spigot, a bell and method of using same for reducing the force required to assemble a pipe or fitting joint, the method including isolating the act of progressively increasing compression of a heel portion of the gasket from the act of progressively increasing compression of a sealing portion of the gasket as the spigot advances into the bell and a seal is formed between the gasket and the...