US Patent Issued to Bayerische Motoren Werke on Nov. 18 for "Apparatus and method for connecting two components by means of at least one ball" (German Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,473,939, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (Munich).

"Apparatus and method for connecting two components by means of at least one ball" was invented by Martin Endres (Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Germany) and Franz Korber (Mallersdorf, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for connecting a first component to a second component by a ball which is fastened to the first component and which is fastenable in an opening of the second component includes a tool which includes two gripping elements and a retainer. The ball can be encompassed and pulled into the opening in a fastening direction by the two gri...