ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,686,229, issued on July 21, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).
"Automotive wheel with tool-less lug and integrated lug wrench" was invented by Justin D. Sorum (Royal Oak, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wheel assembly may include a wheel body having a body portion, a center lug member operably coupled to the wheel body for rotation to alternately tighten or loosen the wheel body with respect to a wheel hub of a vehicle on which the wheel body is mountable, and a lever arm having a storage position in or proximate to the wheel body and an operating position to which the lever arm is moved from the stora...