US 7,574,933 B2
Indexing device for manufacturing system for aircraft structures and other large structures
Laurance N. Hazlehurst, Seattle, Wash. (US); Bobby C. Philpott, Jr., Kent, Wash. (US); James N. Buttrick, Seattle, Wash. (US); Darrell D. Jones, Mill Creek, Wash. (US); Kostadinos D. Papanikolaou, Southfield, Mich. (US); David P. Banks, Lake Stevens, Wash. (US); Terrence J. Rowe, Seattle, Wash. (US); Ronald Outous, Shoreline, Wash. (US); Charles H. Glaisyer, Everett, Wash. (US); Harry E. Townsend, Seattle, Wash. (US); Mark Boberg, Bellevue, Wash. (US); Paul Elfes Nelson, University Place, Wash. (US); and John R. Porter, Lynnwood, Wash. (US)
Assigned to The Boeing Company, Seattle, Wash. (US)
Filed on Sep. 15, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/227,941.
Application 11/227941 is a continuation of application No. 11/026242, filed on Dec. 30, 2004, granted, now 6,979,288.
Application 11/026242 is a continuation of application No. 10/004060, filed on Oct. 31, 2001, granted, now 6,855,099.
Prior Publication US 2006/0176156 A1, Aug. 10, 2006
Int. Cl. G01M 19/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 73—865.8  [29/407.09] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An index device for mounting on a workpiece to be used as a reference feature in manufacturing operations, comprising:
a housing structured and arranged to attach to the workpiece and engage a hole formed in the workpiece so as to locate the index device relative to the workpiece, said housing configured to be carried by the workpiece during the manufacturing operations, wherein the housing has a first portion and a second portion that are each larger than the hole in the workpiece so as to engage opposite sides of the workpiece, are positioned on opposite sides of the workpiece and are connected together by a shaft passing through the hole in the workpiece; and
a machine-readable microchip carried by the housing, the microchip programmed to store a unique identifier, whereby the identifier is configured to be correlated with the location of the index device on the workpiece, wherein the microchip is located in one of the first and second portions, and the other of the portions has a second microchip therein for storing a unique identifier.