US Patent Issued to 3M Innovative Properties on Oct. 7 for "Foldable face-piece respirator with exhalation valve" (American, Russian Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,434,080, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Co. (St. Paul, Minn.).

"Foldable face-piece respirator with exhalation valve" was invented by Evgeny V. Vasiliev (Volokolamsk, Russia) and Dean R. Duffy (Woodbury, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A foldable filtering face-piece respirator is disclosed. The respirator includes a mask body having a line of demarcation that separates the mask body into a first portion and a second portion. The respirator also includes an exhalation valve positioned on the line of demarcation and in a central area of the mask body such that the exhalation valve is positioned essentially ...