ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,654,486, issued on June 16, was assigned to Maxion Wheels Holding GmbH (Konigswinter, Germany).
"Method for producing a cast vehicle wheel" was invented by Johan Vits (Ranst, Belgium) and Diego Balduzzi (Leno Brescia, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of manufacturing a cast vehicle wheel including a wheel trim cover attached thereto. A removable first tool insert is installed into a mold assembly. The tool insert includes a mounting feature that communicates with a cavity of the mold assembly to form a mating feature in the wheel. A wheel trim cover is provided and is attached to the wheel at the mating feature via a coupler...