US Patent Issued to British American Tobacco on Feb. 10 for "Shaping a tobacco industry product" (British, South African Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,543,779, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to British American Tobacco Ltd. (London).

"Shaping a tobacco industry product" was invented by Samuel Whiffen (London), Thomas Brice (London), John Richardson (London), Karl Kaljura (London), Gerhard Le Roux (Stellenbosch, South Africa) and Arnold Herholdt (Stellenbosch, South Africa).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "There is described an apparatus for shaping a tobacco industry product, the apparatus comprising a shaping head configured to change the shape of a first end of the tobacco industry product. The apparatus also includes an actuator configured to move the shaping head and/or tobacco indus...