Back to results
US 4,124,944 AGranted
Device for teaching and evaluating a person's skill as a welder
AssigneeLenco, Inc.
InventorBruce A. Blair
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeLenco, Inc.
InventorBruce A. Blair
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for simulating an arc welding operation, for training welders and for evaluating a welder's performance including a target representing a simulated weld to be made, mechanism for imparting predetermined motion to the target, a simulated welding tool including a simulated welding rod and a holder for the rod, the rod having a free end with an element adjacent thereto having properties capable of being sensed magnetically, a magnetic sensor assembly located adjacent to the target for movement therewith and including members capable of responding to the presence of the magnetic field produced by the magnetic element on the rod for producing responses depending upon the position of the simulated welding rod relative thereto and the distance of the rod therefrom, the magnetic sensor assembly including angularly related pairs of opposed sensor members arranged to produce responses to represent the position of the simulated welding rod relative thereto in two different angularly related directions, each of the sensor members being capable of producing a response when in the field of the magnetic element, an electric circuit connected to the sensor members of the aforesaid pairs including circuitry for combining the responses produced by selected ones of the sensor members to produce electric signals representative of the position of the free end of the rod relative to the sensor members and representative of the distance between the rod and the sensor assembly, and a sensor element located on the rod holder, the sensor element being constructed and positioned to respond to the angular orientation of the simulated welding rod relative to the target. The present apparatus also includes an electric circuit for producing audible responses and/or visual indications to simulate an arcing condition and to indicate and record errors that an operator makes in following the target during a simulated welding operation.
A device for training and evaluating the performance of a person such as an arc welder comprising a work surface including an element representing a member to be welded,
In a device to be used to simulate arc welding which includes a simulated target member representing the object to be welded, means for predeterminately moving the target member to simulate a welding path having a principal movement direction, a simulated welding rod and a holder for the rod which includes means to move the rod therein to simulate a rod burn rate, the improvement comprising means associated with the target for producing responses which vary with the position of the simulated welding rod relative to the target, said means including first and second pairs of sensor members, said first pair of sensor members being oriented substantially in alignment with the principal direction of movement of the target and said second pair of sensor members being oriented substantially transversely to the principal direction of movement of the target, and means on the simulated welding rod for producing a magnetic field which is capable of being detected by the sensor members of said first and second pairs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.