COMPUTER AIDED COORDINATE MEASURING SYSTEMS

A description of the development, structure, and application of the computer aided coordinate measuring system is presented. Engineering design requirements of helicopter components and new manufacturing capabilities achieved through the use of numerical control machinery, have generated the need to improve and expand traditional inspection techniques. The technology required to structure a system capable of integrating two separate coordinate measuring machines (the Bendix Portage 56B and Boice Acracord) to operate under a common computer language, and to develop the software necessary to inspect the most complex transmission housings, was conceived under a joint development effort by Boice Division Mechanical Technology Incorporated and Sikorsky Aircraft, Division United Technologies.