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:
Feb. 05, 2013
Filed:
May. 19, 2010
Joshua Lewis Moberg, Milan, MI (US);
Joshua Lewis Moberg, Milan, MI (US);
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Erlanger, KY (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides for a vehicle headliner having localized compressed stiffeners to increase rigidity and decrease brittleness. The headliner compression stiffener adds rigidity to the headliner substrate without adding additional cost or additional weight. At least one compression stiffener is added to a vehicle headliner to an area of the vehicle headliner requiring increased rigidity qualities. The stiffener is an elongated indentation formed by firmly compressing an object into the substrate of a headliner. The substrate of the vehicle headliner includes a first predetermined density in areas where the stiffener is not located. A second density is localized in the headliner substrate in the area directly below the indentation of the stiffener. The predetermined first density is lower in measurement than the second density of the substrate directly below the indentation of the stiffener. By increasing density in the area directly below the stiffener indentations, the headliner as a whole is stronger in areas near the stiffener indentations without increasing weight or substantially increasing cost.