ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,366,380, issued on July 22, was assigned to THE MARLEY COMPANY LLC (Charlotte, N.C.).

"Modulation systems and methods for instantaneous hot water applications" was invented by Owen A. Cunningham (Michigan City, Ind.), Ryan Hardesty (Valparaiso, Ind.) and Daniel G. Karch (LaPorte, Ind.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods are directed to water healer systems, including combi boilers and instantaneous water heaters, for initiating pre-heat and energy savings operations. Embodiments of the present invention can include at least one heat exchanger, a plurality of temperature sensors sensing water temperature at one or more loca...