US Patent Issued to Altria Client Services on April 29 for "Cut and seal method and apparatus" (Virginia Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,286,257, issued on April 29, was assigned to Altria Client Services LLC (Richmond, Va.).

"Cut and seal method and apparatus" was invented by Jarrod W. Chalkley (Mechanicsville, Va.), James D. Evans (Chesterfield, Va.), Thien Hoang Nguyen (Glen Allen, Va.) and Patrick S. McElhinney (Chesterfield, Va.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A fin sealer and method to seal a radially outwardly directed fin of a tubular web structure by directing the fin through a nip between a first and a second fin sealing rollers while communicating heat to the fin through at least one of the fin sealing rollers is provided. The fin sealer is configured to maintain...