US Patent Issued to Minimax Viking Patent Management on March 17 for "Protective cover and installation tool for fire protection sprinklers" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,576,419, issued on March 17, was assigned to Minimax Viking Patent Management GmbH (Bad Oldesloe, Germany).

"Protective cover and installation tool for fire protection sprinklers" was invented by Shawn J. Feenstra (Caledonia, Mich.) and Gary William Pleyte (Hastings, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A device and method of protecting and installing a fire protection sprinkler. The device includes a tubular cap that axially receives the sprinkler. The device also includes torque assist features including an external rotational drive feature and an internal rotational drive feature."

The patent was filed on Sept. 19, 2022, under Appli...