Method and apparatus for determining the geometry of a body

In a forging plant for the forging of an elongate metal workpiece, including a forging press, means for feeding a workpiece longitudinally stepwise through said press and for rotating said workpiece about its longitudinal axis, and control means for controlling the workpiece feeding means and the forging press in dependence on the dimensions of the workpiece after forging, the improvement wherein the control means comprises:

• measuring means disposed for scanning the profile of the workpiece exiting the press;
• and
• computing means having an input for receiving output from said measuring means and arranged and adapted for initially determining the geometry of the workpiece in terms of a plurality of cross sections distributed along the length of the workpiece prior to entry into the forging press, determining the fed volume of the workpiece from the product of the known cross section of the workpiece prior to entry into the press and the length of the workpiece fed into the press, effecting scanning perpendicularly to the feed direction of the workpiece and planimetry of the profile of the workpiece exiting the press and determining therefrom the cross section of the workpiece exiting the forging press, dividing said fed volume by the said determined cross section of the workpiece exiting the forging press and determining therefrom the length of the workpiece that has exited the forging press, and determining the actual geometry of the workpiece exiting the press in terms of a plurality of cross sections distributed along the length of the workpiece that has exited the press.

Apparatus for determining the geometry of a metallic workpiece in a forging press for a processing throughpass, wherein the workpiece has a longitudinal axis and is fed into the forging press for processing and rotated about the longitudinal axis in predetermined manner, comprising:

• a support arranged in the vicinity of the processing region of the workpiece in embracing relationship to the workpiece;
• guides at at least two uniformly spaced positions on said support;
• slides mounted on said guides for translational movement tangentially to a circle encircling the workpiece;
• and
• adjacently arranged beam emitters and beam receivers mounted on respective slides for movement therewith for scanning the workpiece profile;
• said support comprising a plurality of portions hinged together, and actuating means for moving said portions between a closed position encircling the workpiece and an open position in which said support means is movable clear of the workpiece, so that the surface of the workpiece is continuously scanned over the periphery thereof in planes perpendicular to the feeding direction of the workpiece by said beams from said emitters which are received by said beam receivers to produce scanned data, the scanned data being transmitted to a prepared programmed computer, the computer converting said data, with the aid of a program based on the constant volume condition of the workpiece, so that the actual geometry of the workpiece is determined.