It is often necessary to secure an object, such as a piece of furniture or equipment, to a panel. The panel may comprise a portion of a vehicle such as an aircraft. Some conventional apparatus and/or methods for installing an object to a panel may utilize one or more through inserts or blind inserts. The insert may be installed into the panel, and a fastener may be driven through a hole in the object and into the insert. However, conventional through inserts may not provide the flexibility and strength needed to mount objects to the panel, and may not provide ballistic protection to stop a ballistic projectile fired at the panel, such as a bullet, a ballistic fragment, or a particle fragment occurring due to the detonation of an explosive device.
A conventional through insert may extend through the panel and may have portions contacting both sides of the panel. This may create a high level of structural strength. However, the through insert may not have the capability to float. As a result, if a through insert is installed in a location on the panel that is not precisely aligned with the hole in the object through which the fastener will be driven, the object may not be secured to the through insert. This may necessitate the fabrication of special tooling to control the location of the through insert, large holes in the object to facilitate installation, or the removing and re-installing of the through insert.
A conventional blind insert may be installed from one side of a panel after a hole has been created. The blind insert may be secured within the hole with an adhesive such as a potting compound. Some blind inserts may include an internal floating nut that may allow an object to be attached to the blind insert even if the object is not precisely aligned with the hole. However, the blind insert may not extend all the way through the panel, and as a result, may not provide as much structural strength as a through insert.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.