ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,259,076, issued on March 25, was assigned to SEKISUI CHEMICAL Co. Ltd. (Osaka, Japan).
"Electrofusion joint" was invented by Ayaka Kitagawa (Kyoto, Japan), Hiroaki Kondou (Kyoto, Japan) and Kouzou Makino (Kyoto, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An electrofusion joint includes a main body and a heating wire. The main body is configured to be connected to a resin pipe containing a thermoplastic resin. The heating wire is in the main body. The heating wire includes a conducting wire and an insulating cover film that is around the conducting wire. The insulating cover film has a melting point of at least 230 degrees."
The patent was fi...