ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,744, issued on July 15, was assigned to Micro Matic USA Inc. (Brooksville, Fla.).
"Hazardous material container plug" was invented by Jeffrey Crowell (Brooksville, Fla.), Michael Tomlinson (Spring Hill, Fla.) and Jeff Smigiel (Northridge, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A plug for a valve for a container that may contain hazardous materials is provided. The plug may include an outer wall, and one or more keys disposed on an external surface of the outer wall. The keys may be sized and shaped to respectively fit within one or more corresponding notches and one or more circumferential grooves in the valve to secure the plug to th...