The Boeing Company

Cameron J Moore

Fei Cai

John DeForest

Jeffrey R Joyce

An apparatus for removing a residue of a substance, extrudable through a nozzle of an automated end-effector, from an exterior of the nozzle is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a dispenser. The dispenser comprises a platform to support at least one cleaning pad. The dispenser further comprises a cage to maintain at least the one cleaning pad on the platform. The platform is movable relative to the cage. The apparatus also comprises a constricting device to circumferentially squeeze one of at least the one cleaning pad, adhesively picked up from the platform by the nozzle, around the nozzle once the nozzle is inserted into the constricting device. The apparatus additionally comprises a disposal receptacle to collect the one of at least the one cleaning pad, released from the constricting device.

Apparatuses for removing residue from a nozzle

A method for removing a residue of a substance, extrudable through a nozzle of an automated end-effector, from an exterior of the nozzle, the method including steps of () establishing contact between the nozzle and a cleaning pad; () adhering the cleaning pad to the nozzle; () inserting the nozzle, with the cleaning pad adhered thereto, into a constricting device; () circumferentially squeezing the cleaning pad around the nozzle with the constricting device; () withdrawing the nozzle from the constricting device to separate the cleaning pad from the nozzle and remove the residue of the substance from the exterior of the nozzle; and () transferring the cleaning pad from the constricting device to a disposal receptacle.

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Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Cameron J Moore