US Patent Issued to 3M Innovative Properties on July 29 for "Flat-fold respirator having flanges disposed on the mask body" (Minnesota, Wisconsin Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,370,386, issued on July 29, was assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Co. (St. Paul, Minn.).

"Flat-fold respirator having flanges disposed on the mask body" was invented by Dean R. Duffy (Woodbury, Minn.), Scott A. Spoo (Deer Park, Wis.) and Thomas I. Insley (Lake Elmo, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A flat-fold, filtering, face-piece respirator that has a harness, a mask body, and first and second flanges. The mask body is capable of being folded flat for storage and can be opened into a cup-shaped configuration for use. The mask body has a filtering structure and has the first and second flanges disposed on first and second mask b...