US Patent 8191395 Alignment device and methods of using the same

An alignment device is located on a mandrel of an installation tool and is used to align a structural member in an opening of a workpiece while seating a radial flange of the structural member against a first surface of the workpiece. The alignment device comprises a disk-shaped device having an outer surface, an inner surface forming an opening through the alignment device, and where the opening is sized to be at least slightly smaller than a major diameter of an expansion portion of the mandrel. In one embodiment, the alignment is nylon to allow the inner surface of the alignment device to be repeatedly, radially expanded and yet the opening formed by the inner surface returns to its original size.