Probe and cap therefor
AssigneeElcometer Limited
InventorsMichael Carrington Sellars, Thomas Partington, Graham Scott Hopper
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Probes are provided with caps, the caps comprise rolling bearing elements so that the probes can be slid along a surface to be measured, without damaging the surface or wearing away the tip of the probe or a sacrificial cap. The rolling bearing elements can be arranged in a ring around the probe tip, with the plane of the foremost edges of the rolling bearing elements a predetermined distance from the probe tip. The caps can comprise a housing with a grip, to encourage users to grip the cap, which comprises the rolling bearing elements, rather than the probe.
Claims20
A probe for measuring a property of a substrate, or a cap for such a probe configured to be disposed at the tip of the probe;
- wherein the probe or cap comprises one or more rolling bearing elements arranged to bear on the substrate to be measured and mounted for multi-axial movement.
A method of measuring a property of a substrate using a probe comprising one or more rolling bearing elements arranged to bear on the substrate to be measured and mounted for multi-axial movement or a probe fitted with a cap comprising one or more rolling bearing elements arranged to bear on the substrate to be measured and mounted for multi-axial movement;
- the method comprising placing the probe against the substrate such that the one or more rolling bearing elements bear on the surface of the substrate and moving the probe along the surface of the substrate, such that the one or more rolling bearing elements roll along the surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.