Apparatus and method to measure tapered or conical parts
AssigneeCommand Tooling Systems
InventorWilliam R. Keefe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tapered part measuring apparatus and method measures male and female tapered or conical parts. The apparatus and method use non-contact linear measurement technology for accurate and repeatable measurements, particularly of tapered parts with large deviations from their desired measurements. The tapered part suspends in non-contact position to the non-contact linear measurement probe on a true vertical axis to accurately assume the same position on replicate measurements.
Claims15
An apparatus for measuring a tapered part freely suspended in a position normal to its axis, said apparatus comprising:
- a first pair of non-contact linear measuring probes aligned in non-contact position to a larger portion of the freely suspended part, and positioned within the probes' non-contact linear measuring range to measure a diameter of the part at the larger portion;
- and
- a second pair of non-contact linear measuring probes aligned in non-contact position to a smaller portion of the part, and positioned within the probes' non-contact linear measuring range to measure a diameter of the part at the smaller portion.
A method of measuring a tapered part comprising:
- aligning a first pair of non-contact linear measuring probes in non-contact position to a larger portion of a freely suspended tapered part, so that the part is positioned with the larger portion within non-contact linear measuring range of the first pair of probes, to measure a diameter of the part at the larger portion;
- aligning a second pair of non-contact linear measuring probes in non-contact position to a smaller portion of the freely suspended tapered part, so that the part is positioned with the smaller portion within non-contact linear measuring range of the second pair of probes, to measure a diameter of the part at the smaller portion;
- measuring a first distance between the first pair of probes;
- measuring a second distance between the second pair of probes;
- freely suspending the tapered part in a position normal to a vertical central axis of the part within non-contact measuring range of the probes;
- measuring a first set of gaps between ends of a larger diameter of the part and ends of the aligned first distance, respectively, with the first pair of probes;
- and
- measuring a second set of gaps between ends of a smaller diameter of the part and ends of the aligned second distance, respectively, with the second pair of probes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.