ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,741,582, issued on Sept. 22, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).
"Base plate locking system" was invented by Matthew B. Rutman (Westland, Mich.), Eric Scott Levine (Novi, Mich.), Daniel Ritz (Windsor, Canada) and Stuart C. Salter (White Lake, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An accessory attachment system includes a base plate configured to be positioned within a vehicle cargo area that has a floor surface and at least one side wall extending upwardly relative to the floor surface. The base plate includes at least a first plate portion that is associated with the at least one side wall and a second plate ...