ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,398,804, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Germany GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany).

"Slotted guide ring with recirculating lubrication and piston-cylinder unit" was invented by Mandy Wilke (Boeblingen, Germany) and Holger Jordan (Neuhausen a.d.F., Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A slotted guide ring for a piston-cylinder unit has a first free end portion and a second free end portion, which are arranged at a distance from one another in the circumferential direction of the guide ring, forming an axial through gap, and the end faces of which are arranged parallel to one another or substantially parallel to o...