ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,534,278, issued on Jan. 27, was assigned to Quest Medical Inc. (Allen, Texas).
"Single use cap" was invented by Andrew Nelson (Dallas), James Bernal (Frisco, Texas), Jeffrey Albertsen (McKinney, Texas) and Robert Mart (Colleyville, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The disclosed principles provide for single use caps that may be applied to any of a number of receptacles, containers, vessels, needless connectors, or other device. A single use cap as disclosed herein includes a component that, when the cap is threaded onto a receptacle or device, is moved from an "unused" to a "used" position by the twisting force applied to the cap whe...