# US 4,398,412 A · Device for determining frost depth and density

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- Number: US 4,398,412 A
- Document ID: US4398412A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 06/359,626
- Filed: 1982-03-18
- Granted: 1983-08-16
- Earliest claimed: 1982-03-18
- Assignees: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Inventors: Farouk Huneidi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4398412A

## CPC

- G01B 5/066: {of coating}
- G01N 9/00: Investigating density or specific gravity of materials; Analysing materials by determining density or specific gravity
- G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)

## Abstract

A hand held device (12) having a forward open window portion (14) adapted to be pushed downwardly into the frost on a surface, and a rear container portion (22) adapted to receive the frost removed from the window area. A graph (FIG. 4) on a side of the container enables an observer to determine the density of the frost from certain measurements noted. The depth of the frost is noted from calibrated lines (28) on the sides of the open window portion (14).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A device for determining the density and depth of frost on a surface, comprising:
a unitary body having a forward open window portion adapted to be placed against the frost surface and adapted to have downward pressure applied thereto so as to cause it to sink readily to the underlying supporting surface whereby the frost will occupy the open space within the window;
said unitary body having a rear container portion with a lower plate secured at a front end thereof to an upper edge of a rear part of the window portion;
said rear container portion having a front entry opening above the lower plate of said rear container portion and rearward of the upper edge of said window portion for receiving the frost scraped from the open window;
calibrated lines along a side of the open window portion to enable an observer to note the depth of the frost;
calibrated lines along a side of the container portion to enable an observer to note the height of the water therein, water resulting only from the melting of said frost therein scraped from the window portion; and
a graph on another side of the rear container portion to enable an observer to correlate the depth of the frost and the height of the water noted to the density of the frost.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A device as defined by claim 1 wherein said unitary body is made of transparent material to enable the frost depth and water height determinations using the calibrated lines to be easily made.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

A device as defined by claim 2 wherein said open window portion is constructed of planar sides arranged in a substantially rectangular configuration, the sides adjacent their lower edges being beveled to form a sharp lower edge.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

A device as defined by claim 3 wherein:
said calibrated lines along the sides of the window portion are parallel to their bottom edges and spaced in equal increments therefrom;
said calibrated lines along a side of the container portion are parallel to the rear of the container portion and spaced in equal increments therefrom.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

A device as defined by claim 4 wherein said graph depicts water height values along an abscissa axis, frost density values along an ordinate axis, and various line plots therebetween of frost depth.

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

A device as defined by claim 3 wherein said rear part of the window portion is the rear planar side and said rear planar side is slanted outwardly from its lower to upper edges to enable the frost occupying the open window to be easily slid into the front entry opening of said rear container portion.

### Claim 7

A device for determining the density and thickness of frost or the like on a surface comprising:
a unitary body having a forward portion with plate sides defining an open rectangular window configuration;
said unitary body having a rear portion in the form of a container having a front entry opening;
said container having a lower plate secured at a front end thereof to a rear plate side of said forward portion whereby said front entry opening of the container is above the rear plate side of said forward portion;
said plate sides of said forward portion having their lower outer surface beveled inwardly to form sharp bottom edges;
the rear plate side of said forward portion slanting outwardly from its lower edge to its upper edge;
calibrated lines along the plate sides of said front portion, said calibrated lines parallel to bottom edges of the plate sides;
said container having a plate with calibrated lines parallel to its rear plate; and
another plate of said container have a graph correlating the height of water in said container resulting only from the melting of frost of the like moved therein from said open window and the height of the frost or the like within said open window to the density of said frost or the like.