ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,284,980, issued on April 29, was assigned to Boxiecat LLC (Santa Monica, Calif.).
"Compressible animal litter" was invented by Alvin Kershman (St. Louis), Josh Wiesenfeld (Santa Monica, Calif.), Jeff Shear (Bonita Springs, Fla.) and Harold Cole (St. Louis).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An animal litter product comprising a foam polymer, wherein the foam polymer is compressible, resilient and has a density in the range of about of about 325 to 650 kg/m3, wherein the foamed polymer has limited compressibility and returns to approximately its original volume, wherein, optionally, the foam polymer is blended with other animal litter component...