Patent ID: 7850897

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a unitary caul sheet for use in creating a unitary fuselage which comprises the steps of: providing a tool, wherein the tool is generally tubular shaped and has a hollow interior cavity defining an Inner Mold Line (IML) surface, and further wherein the tool has a first end and a second end; spraying a caul sheet material onto the Inner Mold Line (IML) surface; inserting an armature into the interior cavity of the tool; filling the interior cavity of the tool between the armature and the caul sheet material with beads of a filler material; capping the first and second ends of the tool to create a vessel; injecting steam into the vessel to form the filler material to create an infrastructure for the caul sheet material; curing the caul sheet material; removing the tool from the caul sheet material to expose an outer surface of the caul sheet; and applying a composite material to the outer surface of the caul sheet to create a combination thereof on the infrastructure; positioning the combination in a hollow mold cavity; heating the infrastructure to shrink and collapse the infrastructure; removing the armature and infrastructure from the hollow mold cavity; and pressurizing the combination inside the hollow mold cavity to create the unitary fuselage.