ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,312,874, issued on May 27, was assigned to VALLOUREC OIL AND GAS FRANCE (Aulnoye-Aymeries, France) and NIPPON STEEL Corp. (Tokyo).
"Connection device for tubular elements" was invented by Ryunosuke Hayakawa (Tokyo) and Sebastien Villert (Meudon-la-Foret, France).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A connection device includes a first tubular element, a second tubular element, and a coupling sleeve in order to connect the first tubular element and the second tubular element. A first male portion of the first tubular element includes a free end which has an annular sealing lip. The sealing lip covers an outer sealing surface of the second tubula...