ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,498,050, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to THE PROTECTOSEAL COMPANY (Bensenville, Ill.).

"Valve apparatus" was invented by Daomin Hong (Flintshire, Great Britain) and Lewis Bingham (Flintshire, Great Britain).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A valve apparatus [11] for connection to a tank or pipe, the valve apparatus[11] comprises a housing [12], a first opening [176a] and a second opening [177a] communicating with respective first conduit [16] and second conduit [17] each for providing ingress and egress of fluid into and out of the housing [11] through the first opening [176a] and the second opening [177a], and discrete first and second ...