Patent ID: 6955346

Claim:
A portable locator for locating and holding a structural member in a predetermined position on a worksurface of an assembly apparatus during an assembly operation wherein at least one fastener is installed to connect the structural member to another structural member, the apparatus having stops projecting above the worksurface for locating the structural members, the locator comprising a body configured for securement to the assembly apparatus free from fixed connection thereto at a first installed position from which the body may engage the structural member to press against the structural member for use in holding the structural member at its predetermined position on the worksurface, the body being adapted to be freely removed from the first installed position without releasing any fixed connection for movement to a second installed position on said assembly apparatus for ready securement thereto free from fixed connection; wherein the body further comprises an opening with a size and shape for receiving one of said stops such that the body is securable at either one of the first or second installed positions by placing the body around a corresponding one of said stops with the stop being received in the opening of the body, the body having a cylindrically shaped outer wall for engaging the structural member, a first central axis, and a cylindrically shaped inner wall defining said opening, the opening having a second central axis; wherein the first and second axes are parallel and non-coincident such that said opening in the body is eccentrically positioned relative to the outer wall; wherein the body has a radial thickness disposed between the inner and outer walls, said thickness varying in a circumferential direction around the body, and at said first or second installed position, said thickness is disposed between said stop and the structural member and corresponds with a magnitude of force applied on the structural member to press the structural member against the adjacent structural member; wherein the body at said first or second installed position is rotatable relative to the apparatus with a center of rotation defined by the second axis; wherein the body has a first circumferential portion positioned between the stop and structural member, and wherein rotation of the body places a second circumferential portion of the body in position between the stop and the structural member, said second portion having a different radial thickness than said first portion to thereby adjust the magnitude of force with which the body presses the structural member.