Patent ID: 7353978

Claim:
A method of making a tailored blank comprising the following steps: (a) friction welding a first joining surface of a first structural member having a non-rectangular parallelogram-shaped profile to a first portion of a surface of a substrate; and (b) concurrently linear friction welding first and second joining surfaces of a second structural member to a second portion of the surface of the substrate and to a second joining surface of the first structural member respectively, said second structural member consisting of a solid comprising a first face in the shape of a non-rectangular parallelogram, a second face that is contiguous with said first face and substantially rectangular, and a third face that is contiguous with said first and second faces and disposed at an oblique angle relative to said second face, said first joining surface being said second face and said second joining surface being said third face, wherein the first and second portions of the surface of the substrate are adjacent.