EP0044823A2
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EP
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A digital reading micrometer
Assignee: Sta Sviluppo Technologie Avanzate SpA
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Filing: 1981-07-20
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2001-07-20
Abstract
Abstract A digital-reading micrometer, portable and self-contained, comprising a sliding micrometer screw, as well as an opto-electronic system in order to visually display in a digital form the reading of the effected micrometric measurement of a length.
Inventors
- 👤 Roberto Brecciaroli
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 19:44
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01D; G01D5/00; G01D5/26; G01D5/32; G01D5/34; G01D5/36; G01D5/363; G01B; G01B3/00; G01B3/18; G01D5/347; G01D5/3473
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
194 words
L. A digital-reading micrometer comprising the combination of, in a single portable housing: a frame; a hollow lead nut rotatably supported by said frame and provided with a micrometric threading internally to its cavity; a micrometric screw supported at one end on said frame, provided with an external micrometric threading supported and engaged by that internal threading of the lead nut and tied to said frame by guide means following it to slide without rotating; an opto-electronic unit composed of an optical coding device including an emitter of light beams and a receiver of said light beam, which controls a converter from a light signal into an electric pulse, along the path of said light beam being interposed a rotatable member, integral with said lead nut, provided with a plurality of means for intercepting and transmitting alternately said light beam, so that following a given rotation of the lead nut, said converter will produce a certain amount of electric pulses; a microprocessor apt to process said pulses in order to convert them into a micrometric measure of a length; a display indicating said measure in a digital form; and a source of electric energy.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
76 words
A micrometer according to Claim 1, in which said frame is composed of a tubular member in whose cavity, at a first end, a ball-bearing is housed which supports the said lead nut, while the said tubular member houses, at its second end, and supports said micrometric screw, said tubular member having an elongated slit in which is slidingly engaged a guiding pin, integral with the micrometric screw, said screw being inserted within said tubular member.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
38 words
A micrometer according to claim 2, wherein a registering or adjusting ring nut is housed within said tubular member in order to support the ends of the micrometric screw and of the lead nut which are threadedly engaged.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
15 words
A micrometer according to claim 1, wherein the pitch of the screw is 0.5 mm.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
116 words
A micrometer according to claim 1, wherein said coding device comprises: a disc integral with the lead nut provided with small windows arranged at a regular mutual distance along a circle of said disc; a diaphragm, fixed in respect to the frame, and coaxial with said disc, provided with at least one slit; a light source and a photo-sensor, opposed each other and aligned with the slit of said diaphragm, at the level of said circle of the disc, so that the light emitted from the source will reach, or will not reach, the photosensor according to the fact that between the slit of the diaphragm and the photosensor a small window is interposed or not.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
44 words
A micrometer according to claim 5, wherein said disc is supported integrally on an extention of said lead nut, which projects from said tubular member, and the diaphragm, the photosensors and the light sources are supported from said first end of the tubular member.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
142 words
A micrometer according to claim 6, wherein said disc presents a first series of 125 small windows having a mutual distance equal to their width, as well as a second series, concentric with the first, of 25 small windows having a pitch which is five times that of the first series, said diaphragm is provided with two pairs of slits, each pair being respectively aligned with the small windows of the first and of the second series, the slits of each pair being at a circumferential distance such to produce pulses, which are mutually offset by 1/4 of the step of each series of small windows, a pair of light sources and photosensors being present for each of said slits, so that said first series of small windows will permit the reading of thousandths and said second series a reading of hundredths.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
A micrometer according to claim 7, wherein said light sources are Light-Emitting Diodes, and said photosensors are phototransistors.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
66 words
A micrometer according to claim 1, wherein the signals arriving from the coding unit are read in a continuous way by bidirectional counters contained in an. interface, whose output is then read, at succeeding intervals, by the microprocessor, in such a way to increase the response speed of the micrometer and to leave time intervals available to the microprocessor so that it can effect accessory functions.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
86 words
A micrometer according to claim 9, wherein said microprocessor effects the following functions: the digital visualization of the dimension of an object being measured, the zero setting of the instrument at any position within the measurement band; the storing of a dimension and the recall of the dimension referred to the previous zero-setting; the indication of the symbols G0, NO GO on the display; and the visualization, on the display device, of the symbol of an error in the case of non-correct use of the instrument.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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