ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,540,698, issued on Feb. 3, was assigned to Rain Bird Corp. (Azusa, Calif.).
"Push to connect coupling" was invented by William Tomas Phillips (Tucson, Ariz.) and Michael A. McAfee (Tucson, Ariz.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A quick coupling system where a conduit can be pushed into the coupling to secure and seal the conduit with the coupling includes a gripping ring and a seal. The seal is located outboard of the gripping ring so that the gripping ring does not damage the outer surface of the conduit engaged by the seal. The coupling system also may include a wiper outboard of the seal to clean the outer surface of the conduit as the c...