ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,692,731, issued on July 28, was assigned to Kiekert AG (Heiligenhaus, Germany).
"Motor vehicle lock" was invented by Viktor Kimel (Essen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention relates to a motor vehicle lock, in particular a motor vehicle door lock, which is equipped with a locking mechanism (1, 2) made up substantially of a rotary latch (1) and a pawl (2). In addition, a release lever (3, 4) is provided to actuate the pawl (2) and to open the locking mechanism (1, 2). According to the invention, the release lever (3, 4) is designed in two parts with a pawl release lever (3) acting on the pawl (2) and an actuating release ...