Alignment meter for a rail system
AssigneeAesynt Incorporated
InventorsRobert Jaynes, Lester Whiteman, Robert Eckert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An alignment meter for a rail system includes a housing defining a cavity, a flexible member connected to the housing, and at least one strain measuring element provided on the flexible member. The strain measuring element may be configured to measure the strain experienced by the flexible member. At least one strain measuring element may be positioned to measure strain in a horizontal direction relative to the flexible member. The at least one strain measuring element may be positioned to measure strain in a vertical direction relative to the flexible member.
Claims16
An alignment meter for at least one rail of a rail system, comprising:
- a housing defining a cavity;
- a flexible member connected to the housing, wherein the flexible member is positioned in the cavity of the housing;
- at least one strain measuring element provided on the flexible member, wherein the housing comprises at least two mounting portions to removably attach the flexible member to at least two bearing blocks configured to travel along the at least one rail;
- and
- the at least one strain measuring element is configured to measure strain experienced by the flexible member.
A linear rail system, comprising:
- at least one linear rail;
- at least two bearing blocks positioned to travel along the at least one linear rail;
- and
- an alignment meter arranged between the at least two bearing blocks, the alignment meter comprising:
- a housing defining a cavity;
- a flexible member connected to the housing, wherein the flexible member is positioned in the cavity of the housing;
- at least one strain measuring element provided on the flexible member, wherein a first end of the flexible member is removably attached to a first one of the at least two bearing blocks and a second end of the flexible member is removably attached to a second one of the at least two bearing blocks, and
- wherein the at least one strain measuring element is configured to measure strain experienced by the flexible member due to misalignment of at least one of the at least one linear rail and the at least two bearing blocks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.