ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,845, issued on April 29, was assigned to US Synthetic Corp. (Orem, Utah).

"Protective leaching mask assemblies and related methods" was invented by Michael James Gleason (Orem, Utah).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Embodiments of the invention relate generally to protective leaching masks, and methods of manufacturing and using the same for leaching superabrasive elements such as polycrystalline diamond elements. In an embodiment, a protective leaching mask assembly includes a superabrasive element including a central axis and a superabrasive table, and a protective mask formed to protect at least a portion of the superabrasive element....