Ford receives patent on a system to turn your F-150 into an outdoor movie theater!

As we’ve mentioned a time or two, we love movies here at McLarty Daniel Ford. With springtime soon to be sprung, wouldn’t it be great if there was a quick and easy way to watch a high-definition movie outside, at the lake, at the campground, or even in your own backyard?

As we see everyday here at McLarty Daniel Ford, the big brains at Ford Engineering are always looking for new ways to make our lives cooler and more fun. Our wish appears to be their command, with the word that Ford recently received a patent for a way to instantly turn a pickup truck bed into a pop-up outdoor theater!

Ford Motor Company’s Ford Global Technologies LLC filed the patent application, titled “Portable Entertainment Support System for a Pickup Truck Box,” with the U.S. Patent Office in August 2017. The application was granted in mid-February.

As seen in design drawings filed with the Patent Office, the system consists of two rails that fit into special receivers — called “interface plates” in the patent — built into the inner walls of a pickup bed, one at the front near the cab, and another at the back near the tailgate. The front rail features a built-in, telescoping screen that rises up several feet higher than the pickup cab. The rear rail, meanwhile, includes three sockets, into which fit the mounting brackets for two high-definition speakers on either side and a high-definition digital projector in the middle.

Hit a button, and the screen pops up. From there, all you need to do is drop the tailgate, set up some lawn chairs, and then play your favorite Hollywood hits in the great outdoors, courtesy of your Ford F-150 and one clever screen.

In the “background” section of the patent filing, Ford describes how and why the system might be useful to truck owners, adding that the use of interface plates to mount the system will avoid requiring owners to drill or modifying their pickup box, which can lead to corrosion or compromise the integrity of the truck box.

There’s no word on when or if Ford will actually build and sell this very clever projector/screen mounting design, but it sure gets our wheels turning on how cool it would be to have something like this for overnight camping or trips to the lake. While we’d never suggest running afoul of the U.S. Patent Office or our friends at Ford, in looking at the drawings, it appears that a movie lover who was even moderately handy could come up with lightweight DIY projector and screen mounting rails that could quickly and easily drop into the stake pocket holes of their Ford truck’s bed in seconds, possibly using either wood, metal or PVC pipe. Hmmmmm….

Be right back. Gotta make a hardware store run!

To read the full patent application from Ford, with more detailed drawings, click here.

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