The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 25, 2008
Filed:
Feb. 14, 2006
Tim Mouch, Troy, MI (US);
Musa Azzouz, Northville, MI (US);
Michael Azzouz, Livonia, MI (US);
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A process for connecting a hydroformed front rail member of an automotive frame to the body side inner (rocker) beam does not require a substantive re-design of the frame to accommodate an overlapping parallel orientation of two tubular frame members. The hydroformed front rail member is laser cut at the rearward end thereof to remove a portion of a side wall of the tubular member to form a C-shaped section. The front rail member is formed with a vertical dimension that provides a nesting relationship between the C-shaped section of the front rail member and the body side inner member so that the rocker beam can be received into the C-shaped section. Welding between the two members can be accomplished using either MIG-welding or spot-welding processes. A body side reinforcement can be added to provide a stiff frame joint as the reinforcement is swept off the rail structure to provide a box section.