Non-contacting gage tip pad
AssigneeSchaevitz Engineering
InventorRalph K. Snow, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air-bearing gage tip or pad for a gage head is mounted on a swivel and closely follows the surface of a non-porous material without touching the surface and accommodates undulating surfaces which approach the pad at an angle and also small errors in mounting the pad normal to the surface, and additionally accepts small imperfect, surface perturbations without loss of air. The air-bearing pad features advantages in respect of increase in bearing stiffness and increase in mechanical response of the gage head and improvement in freedom from adverse effects encountered in the prior art and tending to be caused by thermal shifts and inherent hysteresis.
Claims5
A non-contacting gage tip for a gage head comprising:
- a cylindrical air-bearing sensing pad having sharp edges with a recess formed with sharp edges therein and including a porous material,
- said porous material filling said recess,
- swivel mounting means for attaching said air-bearing sensing pad to a gage head, and
- air fitting means mounted on said swivel mounting means for receiving a source of air
- wherein the sharp edges contribute to the operation of the air-bearing sensing pad in accepting small, imperfect, perturbations in the surface under measurement without spilling or loss of air and an associated change in the air gap.
Apparatus for gaging rapidly moving relatively smooth surfaces comprising:
- a gage head having a probe shaft,
- a gage tip disposed on the end of the probe shaft,
- spring means urging the probe shaft and gage tip toward a material surface to be gaged, and
- means for measuring probe shaft displacement,
- said gage tip including a cylindrical air-bearing sensing pad,
- said air-bearing pad having sharp edges with a recess formed with sharp edges therein,
- a porous material filling said recess providing a number of tiny air-bearing pressure areas,
- swivel-mounted means for attaching said sensing pad to a gage head,
- said swivel mounting means including a hollow ball and socket,
- a hollow stem connecting said ball to a body element,
- air fitting means mounted on said swivel mounting means for receiving a source of air,
- said air fitting means being mounted on said body element, and
- conduit means attaching said hollow stem to said fitting means for permitting passage of air from said fitting means through said stem to said ball and socket and to said sensing pad,
- said socket being formed in said air-bearing pad
- wherein the sharp edges contribute to the operation of the air-bearing sensing pad in accepting small, imperfect, perturbations in the surface under measurement without spilling or loss of air and an associated change in the air gap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.