Fca US LLC

Zachariah P Smith

Jason E Schultz

Mikil Sockow

A rear SMC component is adhesively bonded to a central SMC component to form a cavity adjacent the rear wall that encloses a tapping plate. A reinforcing SMC component is adhesively bonded to the central SMC component with a rail portion against the top wall and a rear gusset portion against the rear wall. Conductive heaters are positioned directly against the surfaces on both sides of the adhesive for the rail portion but only on the interior side of the adhesive for the gusset portion, because the rear component blocks access thereto. As a result, the adhesive for the gusset portion is only partially cured by the heater. A gusset fastener is installed through the rear gusset portion and the rear wall and into the tapping plate to fixedly retain the rear gusset portion against the rear wall while this partially cured adhesive subsequently cures.

Method of assembling a SMC vehicle roof assembly

A tonneau cover clamp is provided for clamping a tonneau cover to a rail of a vehicle. The rail of the vehicle has a downwardly facing flange and an outwardly facing flange. The tonneau cover clamp includes a bracket, a clamp arm, a handle and a clamp member. The bracket is coupled to a transverse frame member of the tonneau cover. The handle and clamp member are collectively rotatably coupled to the clamp arm. The clamp member has an upward cam and a side cam integrally formed thereon. The clamp member is configured to engage the rail upon rotation of the handle such that concurrently (i) the upward cam slidably engages the downwardly facing flange to urge the tonneau cover downwardly and (ii) the side cam slidably engages the outwardly facing flange to urge the tonneau cover outwardly.

Growing community of inventors

Westland, MI, United States of America

Zachariah P Smith