The Boeing Company

John W Schooff

Paul E Ffield

Steven C Van Swearingen

Darrell Darwin Jones

James N Buttrick, Jr

David Paul Banks

James C Murphy

James Eric Brodhead

John F Richards

Melvin R Wiseman

A system for loading parts to a workpiece clamp-up position on a floor assembly jig that holds the parts in position for fastening together into a large mechanical structure includes a frame mounted on slides adjacent to the floor assembly jig, and a mounting structure for temporarily mounting the parts on the frame. A powered lifting mechanism such as a crane lifts the parts onto the frame and then the frame can be slid laterally toward the clamp-up position on a floor assembly jig to position the parts for easy transfer onto the jig.

Loading large parts on a jig

An automated assembly machine for fabricating large mechanical structures including a floor assembly jig for receiving and holding parts in a desired orientation, a pair of carriages, a first drive mechanism for independently driving the carriages longitudinally, a second drive mechanism for moving the carriages vertically, a tool tray mounted on the carriages, and a plurality of tools, including a drill, a hole diameter measurement probe, a nut runner, and an electromagnetic riveter, mounted on the tool tray for lateral movement toward and away from a workpiece clamp-up position. The tools are positioned at the workpiece clamp-up position by moving one of the carriages longitudinally along the floor assembly jig and raising the other carriage to elevate the tool tray to a desired elevation.

Automated spar assemby tool

A system for maintaining normality of a tool nose to a workpiece supported on a floor assembly jig adjacent to a carriage on which the tool nose is mounted while the carriage is negotiating a bend in the floor assembly jig includes a support system for supporting the carriage on a rail for longitudinal travel along the rail. The support system has two longitudinally spaced bearing blocks and a slide on each bearing block for mounting the carriage on the bearing blocks for lateral movement of the carriage toward and away from the rail. Each bearing block includes a bearing base in which is journaled a plurality of rollers in rolling contact with a horizontal upwardly facing surface on the rail for rolling vertical support of the bearing base on the rail, and also has at least one roller in rolling contact with a laterally facing surface on each side of the rail for lateral support of the bearing base. A bearing lid is mounted atop the bearing base by thrust and journal bearings for rotation on the bearing base about a vertical axis. The slides connecting the bearing lid to the carriage for vertical support of the carriage on the bearing lid permit lateral motion between the carriage and the bearing lid in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the rail. Two translation devices, each including a servomotor drivingly connected to a ball screw, move the carriage laterally on the bearing block and holds the carriage at any desired position laterally with respect to the rail. The translation device has one portion connected to the carriage and a relatively movable portion connected to the bearing block. The carriage may be rotated about a vertical axis to a desired position facing a vertical plane through the rail by operating one of the translation devices to move the carriage in one direction relative to one of the bearing blocks, and operating the other translation device to move the carriage in the opposite direction relative to the other bearing block.

Normality control for a tool nose

A method for reconfiguring a jig for supporting an elongated workpiece to enable the jig to support two different configurations of the workpiece. The jig has a multiplicity of clamps for holding the workpiece, each clamp mounted at the top of a clamp post and each clamp post supported on a pillar mounted on a fixed solid base. The jig is configured by sliding the posts along slides on the pillars to a first position at which the posts can be placed to position the clamps at the correct elevation to support the workpiece at a first configuration position, and inserting a pin through aligned pairs of holes in each of the clamp post and the pillar to prevent the post from sliding from the first position relative to the pillar. The weight of the clamp post and clamp are counterbalanced with a fluid cylinder connected at one end to the clamp post, and connected at the other end to the pillar. To reconfigure the jig, the pin is removed and the clamp post is moved along the pillar to a second position at which the clamps are positioned at the correct elevation to support the workpiece at a second configuration position. The pin is reinserting through a second pair of aligned holes in each pair of clamp post and pillar to prevent the post from sliding from the second position relative to the pillar.

Reconfiguring a jig

A clamp structure for holding a workpiece in a vertical position, and which is reconfigurable to enable manufacture of an opposite hand version of the workpiece, includes a plurality of pillars mounted on a fixed solid base and a clamp post on each of the pillars having a top end on which is mounted a clamp. An air cylinder has one end connected to the pillar and an opposite end connected to the clamp post. The air cylinder is connected to a source of air pressure for pressurizing the air cylinder to a pressure sufficient to substantially counterbalance the weight of the clamp post and clamp. A pair of holes in structure mounted on the pillar, and a pair of holes in structure mounted on the clamp post are alignable in pairs for two heights of the clamp for two different configurations of the workpiece, so the clamp structure can be used to clamp two different configurations of the workpiece.

Growing community of inventors

Janesville, WI, United States of America

John W Schooff