ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,521,660, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to Caterpillar Inc. (Peoria, Ill.).
"Integrated manifold for pre-cleaner dust removal" was invented by Philip C. Spengler (Washington, Ill.), Timothy S. Finn (Morton, Ill.) and Stephen Ellis Oedewaldt (Mapleton, Ill.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A pre-cleaner may include a plurality of spin tubes arranged side-by-side to form a row. Each spin tube may include a longitudinal axis, an inlet at a first end, and an outlet at a second end. The pre-cleaner may also include a manifold enveloping the outlets of the plurality of spin tubes and configured to receive and direct dust away from the outlets. ...