ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,371,314, issued on July 29.
"Flexible funnel" was invented by William D. Butterfield (Burnsville, Minn.), Kasey L. Pipo (Burnsville, Minn.) and Ernest Delanghe (Burnsville, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A foldable funnel includes a bowl having a continuous outer wall having a top edge defining an opening to an interior space. The continuous outer wall includes a plurality of spaced apart bowl living hinges and a first flange extending from the top edge, where the first flange having a width and a length. The foldable funnel includes a stem extending from the bowl, the stem having a through bore in fluid communication with the inte...