ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,331,706, issued on June 17, was assigned to MIKUNI Corp. (Tokyo).

"Intake manifold and intake device" was invented by Natthavud Songprasert (Kanagawa, Japan) and Hiroyuki Yanazawa (Kanagawa, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An intake manifold M1 includes: a surge tank 10, formed in an elongated tubular shape in a direction of a predetermined axis S; branch pipes 20, extending from the surge tank; an upstream tubular part 50, continuous on an upstream side of the surge tank; an opening part 60, open at an upstream end of the upstream tubular part; a flange part 70, formed around the opening part; an annular seal groove 80, formed at t...