ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,311,609, issued on May 27, was assigned to Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd. (Auckland, New Zealand).
"High-frequency welding for headgear" was invented by Mark Arvind McLaren (Auckland, New Zealand) and Andrew James Webb (Auckland, New Zealand).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Welded headgear sections can be produced by using a weld tool having pins protruding from a weld region contact surface to deliver high-frequency electromagnetic energy to a weld region defined by overlapping top and bottom headgear straps. The pins fully penetrate the top strap and at least partially penetrate the bottom strap. The pins concentrate the electromagnetic...