ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,330,571, issued on June 17, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).
"Rock rail assembly" was invented by Stuart C. Salter (White Lake, Mich.), David Brian Glickman (Southfield, Mich.), Paul Kenneth Dellock (Northville, Mich.), Dennis Yee (Milford, Mich.), Aaron Peter Klop (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Satvinder Singh Matharu (Tecumseh, Canada).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A rock rail assembly for a vehicle includes a mounting assembly coupled to the vehicle and comprising a shock absorption pad, and a rail assembly pivotably coupled to the mounting assembly and having a rail. The shock absorption pad is the vehic...