US Patent Issued to PHILIP MORRIS USA on May 6 for "Vessel screen retaining system and method" (Virginia Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,290,094, issued on May 6, was assigned to PHILIP MORRIS USA INC. (Richmond, Va.).

"Vessel screen retaining system and method" was invented by Nathaniel Hull (Richmond, Va.), Adam Lisbeth (Richmond, Va.), William Sammler (Richmond, Va.) and John Tilley (Richmond, Va.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Certain embodiments include a screen assembly of a vessel, where the screen assembly includes a plurality of fixed elements and a retainer, and the retainer includes a ring, a plurality of wedges disposed about the ring, and a plurality of keyholes at spaced locations about the ring. Each keyhole includes a bore and a slot extending from the bor...