ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 7 -- United States Patent no. 12,674,294, issued on July 7, was assigned to Michael P. Scheele (Sacramento, Calif.).
"Valve box support pad" was invented by Michael P Scheele (Sacramento, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The valve box support pad is a thick rubber pad made from recycled auto tire scraps or virgin rubber by a compression molding process using a polyurethane binder and is designed to be placed below-grade under irrigation valve boxes to both support the valve box and prevent gophers or other burrowing mammals from backfilling their tunneling spoils into the valve box. What is new about this invention is that it replaces the industry standard bricks, g...