ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,583,642, issued on March 24, was assigned to Philip Morris Products S.A. (Neuchatel, Switzerland).
"Method for forming pairs of packs" was invented by Fiorenzo Draghetti (Medicina, Italy) and Stefano Minoccari (Imola, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for forming pairs of packs, comprising providing a supply of individual packs (100), arranging a first pack in a vertical transport device (40), arranging a second pack in the vertical transport device (40), thereby arranging the second pack vertically spaced from the first pack in the vertical transport device (40). The method further comprises vertically transporting the firs...