ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,523,048, issued on Jan. 13.

"Self-cleaning device for applying material between tiles on vertical surfaces" was invented by Mirco Verrando (Ventimiglia, Italy).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Self-cleaning device for applying material between the grout lines of tiles on vertical surfaces (100) adapted to spread and model material of acrylic, silicone and/or soft cementitious paste type in order to create grout lines, joints or mortar on vertical surfaces preventing the product from sliding downwards; said self-cleaning device for applying material between the grout lines of tiles on vertical surfaces (100) adapted to speed up the laying op...