ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,209,687, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to VAT Holding AG (Haag, Switzerland).
"Closure device for closing an opening in a wall in a vacuum-tight manner" was invented by Fabian Buchel (Buchs SG, Switzerland) and Florian Ehrne (Frumsen, Switzerland).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A closure device for closing an opening in a wall in a vacuum-tight manner has a valve plate, which by way of a connecting device is connected to a valve rod, for closing and exposing the opening. The connecting device has a swivel head of which at least portions of the external surface are of a spherical configuration and which is disposed in a receptacle space ...