ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,364,811, issued on July 22, was assigned to NxStage Medical Inc. (Lawrence, Mass.).
"Needle guard" was invented by James M. Brugger (Newburyport, Mass.), Christopher D. Pierson (Southborough, Mass.) and Steven C. Alford (Marysville, Wash.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of making a needle guard includes providing a mold having a portion defining a volume, the volume being a hollow cylinder with non-uniform walls with a pair of slots therein, the slots being open at one end and closed at the other end, the pair of slots having a major portion of constant width. The walls are thicker at the other end than at the one end. The method...