Method and apparatus for measuring angular or linear displacement
First Claim
1. An apparatus for measuring the relative position of a movable object, said apparatus comprising:
- a member movable along a path corresponding to the position of the object;
a plurality of spaced electrical contacts insulated from one another and positioned along said path;
means operatively connected to said plurality of contacts for storing a corresponding plurality of angular measurement data at a corresponding plurality of memory locations, said measurement data respectively associated with said plurality of contacts along said path; and
output means operatively connected to said data storing means;
said movable member being effective when in engagement with one of said contacts to cause the data stored in the one of said memory locations associated with said one of said contacts to be applied to said output means
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Abstract
An apparatus and method are disclosed for measuring the angular or linear displacement of an object. That displacement is transmitted to a movable conductive member, which, in response thereto, is moved to a position at which it electrically contacts one of a plurality of fixed contacts, thereby to complete an electrical circuit that includes a memory location in a read-only memory that contains digital data representing the amount of displacement that correlates to the fixed contact associated with that memory location. That digital data is transferred to an output device for display or additional data processing.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An apparatus for measuring the relative position of a movable object, said apparatus comprising:
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a member movable along a path corresponding to the position of the object;
a plurality of spaced electrical contacts insulated from one another and positioned along said path;
means operatively connected to said plurality of contacts for storing a corresponding plurality of angular measurement data at a corresponding plurality of memory locations, said measurement data respectively associated with said plurality of contacts along said path; and
output means operatively connected to said data storing means;
said movable member being effective when in engagement with one of said contacts to cause the data stored in the one of said memory locations associated with said one of said contacts to be applied to said output means - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for determining the relative position of a movable object, said method comprising the steps of:
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arranging a plurality of fixed, spaced and insulated electrical contacts along a path;
moving a member along said path by an amount representative of the relative movement of the object, thereby causing said movable member to make electrical contact with one of said contacts;
storing respectively a corresponding plurality of position data in a plurality of data-storing locations in a memory, each of said data-storing locations being respectively associated with the position of one of said contacts; and
causing the measurement data from the one of said memory location associated with the one of said contacts then engaged by said movable member to be applied to an output device.
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Specification