ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,439, issued on May 13, was assigned to Applied System Technologies Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.).

"Wrench device for push-to-connect fitting" was invented by Seth S. Cranford (Matthews, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wrench device that includes a first head with fixed jaws and a neck disposed between the fixed jaws for positioning the fixed jaws in a spaced-apart arrangement, and an open-ended push-to-connect fitting engaging cavity is disposed within the fixed jaws and neck for receiving a push-to-connect fitting. A second head with fixed jaws and a neck disposed between the fixed jaws for positioning the fixed jaws in a spaced-apar...