The Boeing Company

Paul E Ffield

Steven C Van Swearingen

John W Schooff

Tanni Sisco

Jeffrey A Wilkerson

James N Buttrick, Jr

David Paul Banks

Darrell Darwin Jones

James C Murphy

James Eric Brodhead

John F Richards

Melvin R Wiseman

A method and apparatus for preventing damage to a metal component that is susceptible to damage by electro-magnetic effects or reduce manufacturing assembly steps. An initial channel is formed through the metal component and is defined by an inner surface. A bushing is placed into the initial channel. An interference fit is created between the outer surface of the bushing and the inner surface of the initial channel through the metal component. A final channel is formed through the bushing. A fastener is placed into the final channel to attach the metal component to a second component, wherein electrical magnetic effects occur between the fastener and the bushing.

Method and apparatus for preventing lightning strike damage to a structural component

Preventing damage to a metal component or reducing manufacturing assembly steps. An initial channel, defined by an inner surface, is formed through the metal component. A bushing is placed into the initial channel, the bushing having an outer surface and an inner channel. An interference fit is created between the outer surface and the inner surface. A final channel is formed through the bushing. In forming the final channel, material is removed from the bushing to increase a size of the inner channel to be suitable to receive a fastener and such that the inner surface of the metal component remains unexposed within the final channel. The final channel extends through a second component. A fastener is placed into the final channel to attach the metal component to a second component, wherein electrical magnetic effects occur between the fastener and the bushing.

Apparatus for preventing lightning strike damage to a structural component

A method and apparatus for preventing damage to a metal component that is susceptible to damage by electro-magnetic effects or reduce manufacturing assembly steps. An initial channel is formed through the metal component. The initial channel is defined by an inner surface. A bushing is placed into the initial channel, wherein the bushing has an outer surface and an inner channel. An interference fit is created between the outer surface of the bushing and the inner surface of the initial channel through the metal component. A final channel is formed through the bushing. In forming the final channel, material is removed from the bushing to increase a size of the inner channel to one that is suitable to receive a fastener and such that the inner surface of the metal component remains unexposed within the final channel. The final channel extends through a second component. A fastener is placed into the final channel to attach the metal component to a second component, wherein electrical magnetic effects occur between the fastener and the bushing.

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 hole inspection system for measuring, on a plurality of planes, the diameter of a hole in a workpiece includes a hole gauge for measurement of a hole diameter in one plane, and a remote centering compliance device connected to the proximal end of the probe for allowing the probe to move laterally, perpendicularly to the probe axis, to self-center in the hole. A center locking device locks the remote centering compliance device on the axis of the probe after the probe has self-centered in the hole. A rotary actuator rotates the remote centering compliance device to rotate the probe to a new desired plane for making an additional diameter measurement in the hole.

Hole diameter inspection

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

Marysville, WA, United States of America

Paul E Ffield