ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 2 -- United States Patent no. 12,484,557, issued on Dec. 2, was assigned to CEVA SANTE ANIMALE (Libourne, France).

"Connected hatchery comprising a plurality of devices for handling, processing or vaccinating eggs or chicks" was invented by Olivier Ninet (Libourne, France), William Boyer (Libourne, France), Stephane Veyrent (Libourne, France) and Carlos Gonzalez (Libourne, France).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention relates to a connected hatchery (1) comprising a plurality of devices (22, 23, 24, 25, 3, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 5, 62, 63, 64) for handling, processing or vaccinating eggs or chicks distributed along a production line, each of the devices being an a...