US Patent Issued to Ford Global Technologies on Nov. 18 for "Vehicle assembly having cross-bar mounted lift assist device and operating method" (Michigan, California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,472,862, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).

"Vehicle assembly having cross-bar mounted lift assist device and operating method" was invented by Stuart C. Salter (White Lake, Mich.), William Wurz (San Francisco), David Brian Glickman (Southfield, Mich.), Annette Lynn Huebner (Highland, Mich.) and Kristin Ann Hellman (Walled Lake, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vehicle assembly according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a cargo bed of a vehicle and a crossbar spanning the cargo bed. The crossbar is slidable relative to the cargo bed. A lif...