The Boeing Company

Sara Murphy

Byron James Autry

Santiago M Mejia

Patrick James Macko

Paul Gabriel Werntges

David Raines

Larry Scott Smotherman

James R Kendall

Matthew S Stauffer

Samuel James Knutson

Steven P Wanthal

Brian Timothy Peters

Michael J Bailey

A device to assemble a skin and a frame of an aircraft fuselage. The device includes first and second brace members that extend along opposing sides of a gap. Arches are spaced apart and fixedly connected to the first and second brace members and that extend across the gap. A strongback is attached to and movable along the first and second brace members with the strongback having a curved shape that matches the plurality of arches. The strongback includes clamps configured to engage with the frame. First and second tension devices apply tension to the skin at the strongback.

Method and apparatus for the application of frame to fuselage pull-up force via fuselage skin waterline tensioning

Systems and methods are provided for splicing airframe components. One embodiment is a method for assembling an airframe of an aircraft. The method includes forming a first skin of a first circumferential section of fuselage, the first skin including a distal portion comprising a lip and a shoulder, aligning a second skin of a second circumferential section of fuselage with the shoulder such that the lip overlaps the second skin, and affixing the first skin and the second skin together via a circumferential splice.

Circumferential lap splices for sections of fuselage

Growing community of inventors

Madison, AL, United States of America

Sara Murphy