ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,252,944, issued on March 18, was assigned to PROSHALE LLC (Spring, Texas).

"High temperature fluid-driven dual-mode circulation tool" was invented by Martin Mauro Nebiolo (Neuquen Capital, Argentina), Cristian Brendstrup (Neuquen Capital, Argentina), Christian Cerne (Spring, Texas) and Gustavo Dietrich (Neuquen Capital, Argentina).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed is a fluid-driven dual-mode circulation tool which is suitable for high-temperature applications, and which is operable to switch between a flow-through mode and an annular-flow mode. Switching modes is accomplished by interrupting (or reducing) and then reinstating the ...