ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,270,497, issued on April 8, was assigned to FlexSteel Pipeline Technologies LLC (Houston).
"Flexible pipe joint" was invented by Matthew Allen Hegler (Kingwood, Texas) and Andrew James Heaton (Lincolnshire, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and apparatus for securing a flexible pipe to a further flexible pipe in an end-to-end configuration, wherein the apparatus includes and the method utilizes an elongate tubular element having a first and second end and an outer surface comprising a raised central region. At least one vent passage extends at least partially across the raised central region."
The patent was filed on...