The Boeing Company

Randall Matthewson

Branko Sarh

Harinder Singh Oberoi

Alan S Draper

Charles Yuanxin Hu

Blair P Nelson

A facility for assembling aircraft fuselages comprises a plurality of movable cradles. Each cradle is configured to support a fuselage keel structure and assemble a panelized fuselage from the keel structure to obtain a full fuselage contour in a single upright build position.

Automated assembly of panelized aircraft fuselages

A method of assembling a panelized aircraft fuselage comprises loading a keel structure on a cradle; attaching stanchions to a floor grid; positioning the floor grid and stanchions over the keel structure and attaching the stanchions to the keel structure; obtaining a full fuselage contour including locating lower panels on the floor grid while using the cradle, the floor grid, and the keel structure to support the lower panels, and locating upper panels on the lower panels; and fastening the lower panels to the keel structure and the upper panels. The fuselage is assembled upright from the keel structure without changing orientation of the fuselage.

Growing community of inventors

Stanwood, WA, United States of America

Randall Matthewson