ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,338,188, issued on June 24, was assigned to Dal-Tile LLC (Dallas).

"Method for manufacturing a decorative element comprising an engineered stone and a decorative element comprising an engineered stone" was invented by Rahul Patki (Dallas), Eladio Pinero Gonzalez (Dallas) and Claudio Caselli (Dallas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for manufacturing a decorative element comprising a substrate and a top layer wherein the substrate is made of an engineered stone and wherein the top layer comprises a decorative pattern, comprising the steps of: providing a mixture comprising at least an inorganic filler and a binder; compacting the mi...