ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,440,657, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to Bard Access Systems Inc. (Salt Lake City).
"Mechanical dilator" was invented by Kyle G. Thornley (Farmington, Utah), Daniel B. Blanchard (Bountiful, Utah), Joe Spataro (Cottonwood Heights, Utah), Alexander Kraemer (Salt Lake City) and Megan S. Scherich (Salt Lake City).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A mechanical dilator is disclosed, which can include a first arm coupled to a second arm by a fulcrum, the first arm and the second arm cooperatively defining a lock and stop mechanism configured to limit lateral movement of the first arm with respect to the second arm. The mechanical dilator can fur...