Mcdonnell Douglas Corporation

Aaron O Dubberly

Roy Lewis Barr

Kevin J Sitton

A fiber placement head movable with respect to a surface, for placing fiber tows thereon, including a feed assembly for feeding the tows to a front end of the feed assembly where the feed assembly includes first and second sets of feed tow guides, an applicator assembly at the front end to receive the tows and apply such to the surface where the applicator assembly includes first and second sets of applicator tow guides, and a device for rotating the applicator assembly relative to the feed assembly between first and second positions. In the first position, the first set of applicator guides is aligned with the first set of feed guides, and in the second position, the first set of applicator guides is aligned with the second set of feed guides. The head moves relative to the surface in a first direction when the applicator assembly is in the first position and then moves in a second direction when the applicator assembly is in the second position, to apply the tows, where the first and second directions are generally opposite each other. The head further includes a heater having an outlet near the front end and a manifold to receive hot air from the heater and distribute such to the surface. The manifold includes first and second inlets to receive the air where the first inlet is aligned with the heater in the first position, and the second inlet is aligned with the heater in the second position.

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Corpus Cristi, TX, United States of America

Aaron O Dubberly