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US 11,945,408 B2Granted
Method of forming a one-piece vehicle roof rail
AssigneeLacks Enterprises, Inc.
InventorsThomas Hawkins, Paul Nikandrou, Ryan Lacks, Nick Hrnyak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roof rail for a vehicle is provided that is made of only one piece and is solid across its length. The roof rail may be made using a co-injection molding process, a two-shot injection molding process or an extrusion molding process.
Claims22
A method of forming a roof rail for a vehicle including:
- injection molding an elongated main body portion extending between a pair of closed ends, and a pair of connecting portions each at one of the ends of the main body portion and configured to connect the roof rail to the vehicle, wherein the main body portion and the connecting portions are formed as a single unitary one piece component with an upper surface, an opposing bottom surface in spaced relationship with the upper surface and two opposing side surfaces each extending between the upper and bottom surfaces, wherein the upper surface is substantially continuous and wherein the side surfaces are each substantially continuous between the upper surface and the bottom surface, and wherein the main body portion and the connecting portions are comprised of a thermoplastic region comprised entirely of a single plateable thermoplastic material with no glass filler, and wherein the single plateable thermoplastic material solidly fills an entire distance between the upper and bottom surfaces along substantially an entire length of the main body portion and the connecting portions;
- and
- electroplating a metal plating layer onto substantially an entirety of the outer portion of the main body and connecting portions to provide an appearance of a metal roof rail.
A method of forming a roof rail for a vehicle including:
- injection molding an elongated main body portion extending between a pair of closed ends and having a pair of connecting portions each at one of the ends of the main body portion and configured to connect the roof rail to the vehicle, wherein the main body portion and the connecting portions are formed as a single unitary one piece component with an upper surface, a bottom surface in spaced relationship with the upper surface and two opposing side surfaces each extending between the upper and bottom surfaces, wherein the upper surface and the bottom surface are substantially continuous and wherein the side surfaces are each substantially continuous between the upper surface and the bottom surface, and wherein the main body portion and the connecting portions are comprised of an inner portion formed of a first thermoplastic material surrounded by an outer portion formed of a second thermoplastic material, wherein the inner portion is formed entirely of the first thermoplastic material from a center of the roof rail radially outwardly to the outer portion of the second thermoplastic material, wherein the thermoplastic material of at least the outer portion does not include a glass filler, and wherein at least the second thermoplastic material is formed of a plateable material;
- and
- electroplating a metal plating layer onto substantially an entirety of the outer portion of the main body including along the upper surface and the side surfaces to provide an appearance of a metal roof rail.
A method of forming a roof rail for a vehicle including:
- injection molding an elongated main body portion extending between a pair of closed ends, and a pair of connecting portions each at one of the ends of the main body portion and configured to connect the roof rail to the vehicle, wherein the main body portion and the connecting portions are formed as a single unitary one piece component with an upper surface, an opposing bottom surface in spaced relationship with the upper surface and two opposing side surfaces each extending away from the upper surface to a bottom edge at the bottom surface, wherein the upper surface is substantially continuous and wherein the side surfaces are each substantially continuous between the upper surface and the bottom edge of the side surface, and wherein the main body portion and the connecting portions are comprised of a thermoplastic region comprised entirely of a single plateable thermoplastic material with no glass filler, and wherein the single plateable thermoplastic material solidly fills an entire distance between the upper and bottom surfaces along substantially an entire length of the main body portion and the connecting portions such that the main body portion and connecting portions do not define a hollow;
- and
- electroplating a metal plating layer onto substantially an entirety of the thermoplastic region including along the main body and connecting portions to provide an appearance of a metal roof rail.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.