ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,502,892, issued on Dec. 23, was assigned to BROTHER KOGYO K.K. (Nagoya, Japan).

"Liquid containment bottle and liquid supply apparatus" was invented by Naoya Okazaki (Hashima, Japan), Satoru Oki (Nagoya, Japan), Nanami Abe (Niigata, Japan) and Masahiro Hayashi (Nishio, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A liquid containment bottle includes a bottle body having an internal space configured to contain liquid. The bottle body has: an upper surface, a nozzle having a forward end surface projecting upward from the upper surface, the nozzle having an opening formed in the forward end surface, and a circular wall which is positioned in a surr...