ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,578,023, issued on March 17, was assigned to Mueller International LLC (Atlanta).
"Slide gate assembly" was invented by Jason White Bradley (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention discloses a method for manufacturing a slide gate, involving providing a gate body with a first face and integrally forming an integral gate seal with the gate body through a hybrid manufacturing process. The hybrid manufacturing process includes depositing an additive material onto the first face of the gate body to create the integral gate seal, with the deposition carried out by a first machine. Subsequently, the integral ga...