US Patent Issued to Mueller International on June 30 for "Expandable pipe stopper" (Illinois Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,669,181, issued on June 30, was assigned to Mueller International LLC (Atlanta).

"Expandable pipe stopper" was invented by James Webber (Decatur, Ill.) and Mohammad Unnus Qasim (Decatur, Ill.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A pipe stopper includes an expandable stopper body configurable in an expanded configuration and a contracted configuration, the expandable stopper body comprising a shell defining a stopper cavity and further defining an opening providing fluid communication to the stopper cavity through the shell; a pressure assembly received in the stopper cavity and defining a housing cavity; and a valve stem defining a stem fluid ...