ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,565,935, issued on March 3, was assigned to OTTO EGELHOF GMBH & Co. KG (Fellbach, Germany).
"Ball valve" was invented by Eike Willers (Stuttgart, Germany) and Peter Bohnenstengel (Esslingen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Ball valve having a housing which comprises at least one inlet opening and at least one outlet opening, between which a regulating chamber is provided, having a valve which is arranged in the regulating chamber and comprises at least one spherical control surface with at least one passage that connects one inflow opening to an outflow opening of the valve, having a connection opening in the housing, which opens ...