Patents Examined by Pinel Romain
  • Cargo management system including an automotive vehicle seat having a cargo trim panel made by a composite, compression molding process and having a wood grain finish
    Patent number: 9399435
    Abstract: A cargo management system including an automotive vehicle seat having a backrest which separates the vehicle interior into a passenger area at the front of the vehicle and a cargo area at the rear of the vehicle is provided. The system includes a vehicle load floor which includes first and second outer layers and a core of cellulose-based material positioned between the outer layers and having a large number of cavities. The outer layers of the load floor are bonded to the core by press molding. The load floor has a wood grain finish. A compression-molded, composite cargo trim panel is secured to the backrest and includes a base layer and a coverstock sheet bonded to the base layer by press molding. The coverstock sheet provides the trim panel with a wood grain finish in an upper compartment of the cargo area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2016
    Assignee: GLOBAL IP HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventors: Darius J. Preisler, Christopher A. Heikkila, Steven A. Mitchell, Jeffrey P. Schmelzer
  • Side-by-side vehicle
    Patent number: 9393894
    Abstract: A utility vehicle includes a plurality of ground engaging members and a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members. The frame assembly extends generally along a longitudinal axis of the utility vehicle. The utility vehicle further includes a front seating section coupled to the frame. The front seating section is configured to support an operator and a first passenger. Additionally, the utility vehicle includes a rear seating section coupled to the frame. The rear seating section is configured to support a second passenger and a third passenger. The rear seating section has an angled panel configured as a dead pedal for the second and third passengers, and a portion of the rear seating section extends forwardly into the front seating section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: Polaris Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Gordon J. Steinmetz, Daniel L. Goffman, Andy T. Ives, Curtis C. Carruth
  • B-pillar unit for vehicle
    Patent number: 9381943
    Abstract: A B-pillar unit for a vehicle is provided. The B-pillar unit includes a B-pillar that is connected to a vehicle body. In particular, the B-pillar includes a roof surface, a left surface, a right surface and a floor surface that are connected in a substantially circular shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventors: Kyung Bum Kang, Huen Sick Min, Jeong Min Cho
  • Cargo management system for use with motor vehicles
    Patent number: 9381865
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a cargo management system for use in a cargo area of a motor vehicle. The system may have a floor pan configured to be fixedly secured to a surface of the cargo area and a back wall. The back wall may be pivotally secured to the floor pan adjacent an edge of the floor pan. At least first and second divider wall panels may be provided which are each pivotally secured to the back wall and spaced apart from one another. Each may be moveable between a collapsed orientation, wherein the plurality of divider wall panels rest parallel and closely adjacent a surface of the floor pan, and an upright orientation wherein each of the divider wall panels, along with the back wall, form at least one compartment for containing cargo items therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: JAC Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerard J. Kmita, Jeffrey M. Aftanas
  • Passenger van
    Patent number: 9381962
    Abstract: The van can be produced by a van modification wherein a portion of the bed in front of the rear doors and behind the rear wheels is removed. A pan is installed; the pan floor lies below the space occupied by the portion removed. A shelf is installed above the pan floor to define a suitcase rack. Seats are installed upon the shelf. An oversized windshield is installed. A seat grouping is arranged behind the driver and below the shelf. A seating row is arranged in front of the shelf row and immediately behind the grouping and disposed above the grouping and below the shelf. A seating row is arranged immediately in front of the shelf row and immediately behind the row of seats arranged immediately behind the grouping. The row arranged immediately in front of the shelf is below the shelf and above the seats immediately behind the grouping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: DUR-A-BUS COACH BUILDERS LTD.
    Inventor: Lorenzo D'Urso
  • Vehicle cargo organiser
    Patent number: 9381871
    Abstract: A cargo organiser for a vehicle includes a frame at least partially forming a floor of a cargo area of the vehicle. The cargo organizer includes one or more elongate elements extendable across an opening defined by the frame. The elongate elements are slidable with respect to the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Andrew J. Murray, Sebastian Rieger, Alicia Agius, Stephen David Fleming, Ed Stubbs, Jonathan Mundy
  • Architected automotive impact beam
    Patent number: 9376074
    Abstract: A curved sandwich impact structure for a vehicle having a micro-truss core. In one embodiment, the sandwich impact structure includes a micro-truss layer sandwiched between two facesheets, a micro-truss layer designed for energy absorption on the outside of one of the facesheets, and a fascia panel in contact with the energy absorbing micro-truss layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Jacob M. Hundley, Nilesh D. Mankame, Alan J. Jacobsen, Eric C. Clough, Hanif Muhammad, Stuart J. Brown, Elisabeth J. Berger
  • Sun visor for automobile
    Patent number: 9375997
    Abstract: A sun visor for a vehicle configured to be engaged with a support section provided in a compartment of the vehicle has a sun visor main body that shields light, a supplementary body slidably attached to the sun visor main body and slidable from a first position where the supplementary body overlaps the sun visor main body to a second position where the supplementary body is drawn out of the sun visor main body to shield the light in a wider area, projections standing on peripheries of the through-holes, and a plurality of through-holes penetrating the supplementary body so as to have incident light partly pass through the through-holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Kasni Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Tamuraya, Shoichiro Obara, Hiroaki Wakisaka, Mitsuru Akiyama, Hiroyuki Takeda, Minoru Tagami, Yutaka Okazaki, Yoshiaki Kazama
  • Energy absorbing member for a bumper assembly of a vehicle
    Patent number: 9371048
    Abstract: An energy absorbing member for a bumper assembly of a vehicle includes an open-celled foam. A magnetorheological fluid is disposed in the open-celled foam. A magnetic field source selectively controls a magnetic field in the open-celled foam. The open-celled foam includes cell walls and the magnetorheological fluid coats the cell walls and defines open cells unfilled by magnetorheological fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Iskander Farooq, Mohammed Omar Faruque, Dean M. Jaradi
  • Load management device
    Patent number: 9365245
    Abstract: A bracket for protecting a flange of a body of a vehicle includes a first portion, a second portion, and a channel defined between the first and second portions. The channel receives the flange. The bracket includes a back side and adhesive disposed on the back side. A front side of the bracket is disposed opposite the back side. A transition surface on the front side slopes inwardly from the first portion to the second portion for deflecting a wheel away from the flange during an offset impact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Edgar Edward Donabedian, Fungtai Charles Ko, Leonard Anthony Shaner
  • Slide-out room system having wall-mounted drive mechanisms
    Patent number: 9366325
    Abstract: An apparatus for moving a slide-out room disposed in an aperture of a side wall of a vehicle from a retracted position to an extended position in a drive direction. The apparatus includes a drive assembly supported by the side wall of the vehicle and a driven assembly driven by the drive assembly. The driven assembly is connected to a wall of the slide-out room such that the slide-out room moves with the driven assembly from the retracted position to the extended position in the drive direction and the driven assembly is movable in a transverse direction generally perpendicular to the drive direction relative to the wall of the slide-out room.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: LIPPERT COMPONENTS MANUFACTURING, INC.
    Inventors: Leonard D. Yoder, Borivoj Krobot, Lawrence E. Walls
  • Mobile massage and spa units
    Patent number: 9358179
    Abstract: A mobile massage and spa unit includes a body, a lighting system and a massage table. The body includes a front, rear, and side walls and a divider extending between the side walls to divide the body into a front section and a rear section. A perimeter of the rear section is defined at least partially by a surface of the divider, a surface of the rear wall, and surfaces of the side walls. Such surfaces are coated with a reflective material. The lighting system includes one or more controllable RGB fixture mounted within the rear section and configured to emit a selected color light. The emitted light is reflected via the coated surfaces to illuminate the rear section with the selected color light. The massage table is disposed within the rear section and centered between the side walls thereof. A working area is defined completely around the massage table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Inventors: Mark S. Hernandez, Silverio Hernandez
  • Torque box with shear planes at inner joint
    Patent number: 9352789
    Abstract: A torque box for a vehicle includes: first and second clamshells joined to each other at respective top and bottom edges and configured to form at least first and second enclosures with an inner joint in between, the first and second enclosures configured to provide top and bottom shear planes at the top and bottom edges, respectively, and at least first and second shear planes at the inner joint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: Tesla Motors, Inc.
    Inventors: N. Petter Winberg, Tom Spencer, Sachin Shrimant Sawant, Malcolm Burgess
  • Air guiding device
    Patent number: 9352791
    Abstract: An air guiding device is provided at a rear end of a motor vehicle and has at least one planar air guiding element that is adjustable from a rest position into a deployed position through a first angle and that is adjustable from the rest position into a lowered position through a second angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Inventor: Thomas Wolf
  • Vehicle lower structure
    Patent number: 9352792
    Abstract: A vehicle lower structure includes a plurality of spat body portions and a guide portion. The spat body portions are provided side by side in a vehicle longitudinal direction on a vehicle front side of a wheel, are protruded from an underfloor of the vehicle toward a vehicle lower side, and extend in a vehicle width direction. The guide portion constitutes vehicle-width-direction outer regions of the spat body portions in at least one of second and subsequent rows from a vehicle rear side, is inclined toward the vehicle rear side and outward in the vehicle width direction to guide a traveling wind, and has a vehicle-width-direction outer end that is arranged more outward in the vehicle width direction than a vehicle-width-direction outer end of the spat body portion that is adjacent to the vehicle rear side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keita Ito, Shinya Watanabe, Hirokatsu Fukunaga, Akihiko Ishikawa
  • Decorative panel and vehicle interior/exterior components
    Patent number: 9352705
    Abstract: The present invention provides a decorative panel including a design surface; and a circumferential edge portion that is formed so as to cross from the design surface, wherein the circumferential edge portion has a first face 7 that is continuous from the design surface along a circumferential extension direction and a second face 8 that is formed in a circumferential extension direction along the first face 7, wherein a face variation line is provided at a boundary between the first face 7 and the second face 8, wherein a decorative panel 1 is provided in such a manner that a decoration film 5 is imparted to at least a part of the design surface and a part of the circumferential edge portion, and wherein the decoration film 5 includes a trimming terminal portion CL along the face variation line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: NIHON PLAST CO., LTD
    Inventor: Kazuhisa Yamamoto
  • Vehicle floor mat
    Patent number: 9346386
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle floor mat reducing a load on a mat main body. The vehicle floor mat includes at least one fastening device for fastening the mat main body to a vehicle. The fastening device includes a first fastening member fixed to the vehicle and a second fastening member fixed to the mat main body. The first fastening member includes a vertical rotating knob, and the second fastening member includes: an insertion receiving section for the rotating knob to be inserted thereinto and engaged therewith; and upper and lower half bodies sandwiching the mat main body and being connected to each other through a half body connecting portion for the rotating knob to be inserted thereinto and at least one outer connecting portion disposed outside the half body connecting portion provided around the insertion receiving section, thus improving a connecting strength between the upper and lower half bodies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignees: HONDA ACCESS CORP., HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Goto, Kana Harata, Tohru Ohba, Tatsuya Shiono, Hirobumi Kikuchi, Mitsuyoshi Nakamura
  • Cargo management system for a vehicle and including a pair of opposing cargo trim panels, each of which is made by a composite, compression molding process and has a wood grain finish
    Patent number: 9346375
    Abstract: A cargo management system including a vehicle load floor and a pair of opposing cargo trim panels supported above the load floor at opposite sides of the load floor within the interior of the vehicle is provided. The load floor has a wood grain finish. The load floor includes a first outer layer, a second outer layer and a core of cellulose-based material positioned between the outer layers and having a large number of cavities. The outer layers are bonded to the core by press molding. The trim panels are compression-molded, composite cargo trim panels supported above the vehicle load floor at opposite sides of the load floor. Each panel includes a base layer and a coverstock sheet bonded to the base layer by press molding. Each coverstock sheet provides its respective trim panel with a wood grain finish.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: GLOBAL IP HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventors: Darius J. Preisler, Christopher A. Heikkila, Steven A. Mitchell, Jeffrey P. Schmelzer
  • Sun shield device for windshield
    Patent number: 9340095
    Abstract: A sun screen for a vehicle having a windshield, an A-pillar and a dashboard includes a spool rotatably coupled with the dashboard and a guide moveably coupled with the A-pillar. The sun screen further includes a unitary, flexible substrate spanning a width of the windshield and having a trailing end coupled with the spool and a leading end coupled with the guide such that the substrate is selectively extendable over the windshield and retractable on the spool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Joel A. Sinclair
  • Vehicular mat and method of molding vehicular mat
    Patent number: 9339955
    Abstract: A vehicular mat to be placed on a vehicular floor panel includes a floor portion, a tunnel portion, a rear edge portion, at least two score lines extending in a vehicular width direction, and a tunnel cutoff portion. The floor portion commonly covers at least two types of vehicular floor panels having different lengths. The rear edge portion is continuous from a vehicular rear edge of the floor portion and has a through hole to be fitted to the opening of the tunnel portion. The vehicular mat is folded along one of the at least two score lines so that the rear edge portion is angled and lifted upward with respect to the floor portion. The tunnel cutoff portion included in the tunnel portion is to be cut off from the vehicular mat to be placed on the second vehicular floor panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA BOSHOKU KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Mitsuaki Asano, Mitsutaka Sakoh