ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 4 -- United States Patent no. 12,320,429, issued on June 3, was assigned to Hayward Industries Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.).
"Butterfly valve" was invented by Paul M. Gutmann (Knoxville, Tenn.), Joshua Lee Hoots (Clemmons, N.C.), Gary A. Moren (Advance, N.C.) and Jon Terence Stone (Clemmons, N.C.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Exemplary embodiments are directed to butterfly valves, generally including a body assembly and handle assembly. The body assembly generally includes a body, a disc rotationally disposed inside an opening of the body, a cog, and a stem passing through the disc and the body. The handle assembly generally includes a handle body and a force ring. The stem c...