Horizontal film balance having wide range and high sensitivity
OwnerBernard M. Abraham, Kenjiro Miyano +1inventors
InventorsBernard M. Abraham, Kenjiro Miyano, John B. Ketterson
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Abstract
A thin-film, horizontal balance instrument is provided for measuring surface tension (surface energy) of thin films suspended on a liquid substrate. The balance includes a support bearing and an optical feedback arrangement for wide-range, high sensitivity measurements. The force on the instrument is balanced by an electromagnet, the current through the magnet providing a measure of the force applied to the instrument. A novel float construction is also disclosed.
Claims10
In a horizontal film balance having a receptacle for a liquid substrate upon which a thin film is suspended, a balance instrument comprising:
- a float disposed to contact the liquid substrate and the thin film;
- means for applying a force to said float through the thin film;
- bearing means for mounting said float for movement in response to forces being applied to said float;
- a horizontal arm having at least one end portion attached to said bearing means for movement in response to movement of said float;
- feedback positioning means for maintaining the end portion of said horizontal arm in a fixed vertical position, said feedback positioning means including force restoring means which balance forces applied to said float;
- and
- means for measuring the restoring force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.