ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,365,398, issued on July 22.
"Retractable tailgate assembly" was invented by Rickey Ellis (Farmington Hills, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A retractable tailgate assembly includes a truck that has a bed and a tailgate that is movably disposed on the bed. A retracting unit is integrated into the truck and the retracting unit is positioned beneath the bed. The retracting unit is mechanically coupled to the tailgate. The retracting unit is actuatable into an extending condition thereby facilitating the tailgate to be positioned between the closed position and the open position. Conversely, the retracting unit is actuatable into a retr...