ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,344,079, issued on July 1, was assigned to MAGNA INTERNATIONAL INC. (Aurora, Canada).
"Automotive side door structure" was invented by Lawrence M. Plourde Jr. (Macomb, Mich.), Mari Anna Chellman (Berkley, Mich.), David Cummings (Clinton Township, Mich.), Armando Perez (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Vijaykumar Gabbita (Farmington Hills, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A door structure system for a vehicle includes an inner panel, an outer panel, and an outer belt reinforcement member. The outer belt reinforcement member extends in a fore-and-aft direction of the door structure. The outer belt reinforcement member creates an overlap join...