ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,370,579, issued on July 29, was assigned to Illinois Tool Works Inc. (Glenview, Ill.).

"Self cleaning apparatus and method" was invented by Brian Merritt (Easley, S.C.), Brett Stripe (Piedmont, S.C.), Charles Bryan Shiflet (Greenville, S.C.), Robert C. Beesley (Greenville, S.C.) and J. Mark Nunn (Simpsonville, S.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for self-cleaning of a component in a machine, which includes at least one air nozzle disposed in air discharge communication with a surface of the component to be cleaned, such as a sensor surface or a gripper surface. The air nozzle is in air flow communication with air exhaust fro...