Wheel alignment measuring apparatus

A wheel alignment measuring apparatus for measuring the toe-in length or angle and camber angle of a tire of a vehicle, wherein said tire is held against rotation, comprising:

• an X-direction member mounted to be movable in the direction of an axle coupling right and left wheels of a vehicle;
• a Y-direction member mounted to be movable vertically with respect to said X-direction member;
• a shaft rotatably supported on said Y-direction member and means for continuously rotating said shaft;
• positioning means for making the center of rotation of the tire coincide with that of the rotary disk;
• at least one light-emitting means mounted for rotation with said rotary disk, means for displacing said light-emitting means radially on said disk, said light-emitting means being energized to emit light at a plurality of times during rotation of said disk;
• photo-detecting means for receiving light from said one light-emitting means that is reflected from points on the tire surface from which light is reflected at each of said times during rotation of said disk;
• means responsive to outputs from said photo-detecting means due to said received light for calculating the toe-in length or angle and camber angle of the tire based on the time taken for the light emitted from said one light-emitting means to reach said photo-detecting means;
• and
• means displaying the data on the toe-in length or angle calculated by said calculating means.

A wheel alignment measuring apparatus for measuring the toe-in length or angle and camber angle of a tire of a vehicle, wherein said tire has an axis of rotation and is held against rotation, comprising:

• a first member mounted to be movable in the direction parallel to said axis;
• a second member mounted to be movable vertically with respect to said first member;
• a light-emitting device, means mounting said light-emitting device on said second member for rotation about said axis and means for continuously rotating said light-emitting device about said axis shaft, said light emitting device being energized to emit light a plurality of times toward said tire during a rotation of said light-emitting device about said axis;
• means for radially displacing said light-emitting device with respect to said axis;
• photo-detecting means for receiving light from said light-emitting device that is reflected from points on the tire surface from which light is reflected at each of said times during rotation of said disk, whereby said photo-detecting means receives said light a plurality of times during each full rotation of said light-emitting device about said axis;
• means responsive to outputs from said photo-detecting means due to said received light for calculating the toe-in length or angle and camber angle of the tire based on the time taken for the light emitted from said light-emitting device to reach said photo-detecting means from each of said points during rotation of said light-emitting device;
• and
• means displaying the data on the toe-in length or angle calculated by said calculating means.