ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,274,960, issued on April 15, was assigned to Hoffman-La Roche Inc. (Little Falls, N.J.).
"Separation apparatus and use thereof" was invented by Oskar Braunersreuther (Penzberg, Germany), Alexander Jockwer (Eurasburg, Germany), Torsten Klabuhn (Bad Heilbrunn, Germany), Michael Pohlscheidt (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Joerg Thiele (Sindelsdorf, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Separating apparatus, comprising a sedimentation settler and a collection vessel disposed underneath and being in fluid communication with the sedimentation settler, the collection vessel forming a receiving chamber having an outlet at or adjacent to the chamber botto...