ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,473,994, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to ASCO SAS (Luce, France).

"Valve system for ATEX environment" was invented by Cecilio Sobrino (Montlouis sur Loire, France), Vivek Pandurang Fale (Pune, India), Jean-Pierre Gomez (Amilly, France), Arnaud Peltier (Yevres, France) and Daniel Solet (Gasville-Oiseme, France).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A valve system (1) comprising a valve having a valve stem (50), a valve body (20) and a stuffing box (30) assembled to the valve body, the valve system comprising a washer (60) in contact with the stem (50) and the stuffing box (30), the washer (60) comprising an electrically conductive material." ...