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US 6,227,938 B1Granted
Guidewire position locator
AssigneeRoyal Masters Grinders, Inc.
InventorsCharles J. Cheetham, Boris M. Olevskiy, Edmund Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A guidewire position locator and a centerless grinder assembly including a guidewire position locator are disclosed. The guidewire position locator includes a plurality of optical sensors closely arranged to accurately detect the position of an elongate workpiece during machining operations.
Claims9
A centerless grinder assembly for machining elongate workpieces, said centerless grinder assembly comprising:
- a work wheel for removing stock from a workpiece;
- a regulating wheel arranged to cooperate with said work wheel in removing said stock from said workpiece;
- a reference location arranged between said work wheel and said regulating wheel;
- a support assembly arranged to support an elongate workpiece having a leading end a trailing end during machining operations;
- a plurality of optical sensors arranged on said support assembly;
- and a light source spaced from said elongate workpiece and said optical sensors and being operative to transmit a single beam of light for detection by said plurality of optical sensors upon movement of the trailing end of said elongate workpiece past at least one of said optical sensors.
3 more elements
A centerless grinder assembly for machining elongate workpieces, said centerless grinder assembly comprising:
- a work wheel for removing stock from a workpiece;
- a regulating wheel arranged to cooperate with said work wheel in removing said stock from said workpiece;
- a reference location arranged between said work wheel and said regulating wheel;
- a support assembly arranged to support an elongate workpiece having a leading end and a trailing end during machining operations;
- an optical sensing system including at least one integrated circuit assembly, said optical sensing system further including a plurality of optical sensing elements arranged such that adjacent ones of said optical sensing elements are no further than about 0.15 inch from each other;
- and a light source spaced from said elongate workpiece and said optical sensing system, said light source being operative to transmit a beam of light for detection by said plurality of optical sensing elements upon movement of the trailing end of said elongate workpiece past said optical sensing elements, whereby said optical sensing system being operative to continuously generate signals indicative of the position of said trailing end of said workpiece during machining operations.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.