ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,441,168, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to EXTANG Corp. (Ann Arbor, Mich.).
"Retractable hard panel tonneau cover" was invented by Jerome James Facchinello (Grand Blanc, Mich.), Chad A. Carter (Manchester, Mich.) and Robert Mosingo (Saline, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A tonneau cover for a vehicle that includes a first panel and a second panel, the second panel is arranged rearward of the first panel in vehicle position when the tonneau cover is in a closed position; the first panel is connected to a first mechanism to guide the first panel into a storage compartment, and the second panel is connected to a second mechanism to g...