ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,288,696, issued on April 29, was assigned to Edwards Ltd. (Burgess Hill, Great Britain).
"Modular foreline system" was invented by Christopher Mark Bailey (Burgess Hill, Great Britain) and Michael Andrew Galtry (Burgess Hill, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A kit of parts for forming a foreline for coupling a process chamber to a vacuum pumping and/or abatement system, the kit comprising: a plurality of foreline segments; wherein each foreline segment is a pipe that comprises: a first substantially straight end portion; a second substantially straight end portion opposite to the first end portion; and an intermediate portion ...