ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,324, issued on July 15, was assigned to CUPOD LLC (Hermitage, Pa.).

"System for sterilizing equipment, associated method, and chlorine dioxide gas generating device for use with same" was invented by Wayne Osterholm (New Wilmington, Pa.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A chlorine dioxide gas generating system for sterilizing equipment in a chamber is provided. The system includes a chlorine dioxide gas generating device configured to generate chlorine dioxide gas, a vacuum pump, and a port assembly comprising a port member fluidly coupled to the vacuum pump and configured to be maintained in an interior of the chamber. The vacuum pump ...