Glassware gauging system
AssigneeBall Corporation
InventorsStephen W. Daudt, George W. Gleason, William C. Hermanson, Arthur A. Olsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A non-contact optical gauger for measuring glassware articles of manufacture at the hot end of an individual section machine. As the manufactured glassware is being conveyed away from the individual section machine, a light beam is direct across its path. An array of photo-sensitive sensors and a microprocessor based electronic system interpret the light beam interruptions as measurement data which are stored and can be displayed as desired.
Claims13
In glassware manufacturing apparatus including an individual section machine having a plurality of sections, each of said plurality of sections producing glassware articles of manufacture, and a conveyor for carrying said glassware articles of manufacture from said individual section machine to a lehr, the improvement comprising non-contact guager means positioned along said conveyor for measuring said glassware articles of manufacture while they are in transit on said conveyor from said individual section machine to said lehr, said gauger means comprising:
- a light-generating means;
- a light-detecting means comprising a plurality of detectors arranged in an array for signaling the interaction of energy from said light-generating means with said glassware articles of manufacture on said conveyor;
- and
- means for receiving the signals produced by said light-detecting means and for measuring, based on said signals, the diameter of said glassware articles of manufacture, the perpendicularity of an edge of said glassware articles of manufacture, the variation in the height of portions of said glassware articles of manufacture, and the roundness of said glassware articles of manufacture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.