Stereoscopic gage and gaging system

• US 3,894,802 A
• Filed: 12/26/1973
• Issued: 07/15/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Paul T. Higgins
• Original Assignee: Paul T. Higgins
• Inventors: Higgins, Paul T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wibert, Ronald L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Godwin, Paul K.
• Application Number:
  US05/428,277
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 356/2,163,165,168,166 350/132 353/7,10
• US Class Current: 356/2
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/2509 Color coding
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/0016 Technical microscopes, e.g. for inspection or measuring in industrial production processes

Abstract

A stereoscopic optical system for gaging the surface of articles having complex contours or shapes is described. The system projects complementary sets of stereoscopic patterns on the article being gaged to determine the conformity of the article'"'"''"'"'s surface to the desired contour or configuration. Nonconforming surfaces perturb the relationship between the complementary patterns imaged on the surface, of the article being gaged, giving a visual indication of a nonconformity. The perturbed relationship between the complementary patterns imaged on the surface of the article may also be detected electro-optically providing an electrical signal indicative of the nonconformity which can be used to initiate a number of automatic or semiautomatic machine operations including in-situ correction of the nonconforming surface.

Claims

1. A system for gaging the surface of an object comprising:

means for supporting the object in a predetermined Position;

means having a fixed relationship to said supported object for optically imaging from spatially separated vantage points two complementary stereoscopic patterns on the surface of said supported object each stereoscopic pattern having at least one coded image, and each coded image in one of said patterns has a complementary image in the other of said patterns, said complementary image in said other pattern having a code different from the code of the images in said one pattern, and each image in said one pattern and its complementary image in said other pattern form a set, wherein the relationship of the two images in each set is indicative of the conformity of the object'"'"''"'"'s surface to the desired position at the location of the set, means for generating electrical signals indicative of the location of each coded image on the surface of the object, means for correlating the electrical signals indicative of the two coded images in each set to generate error signals indicative of the correspondence of the object'"'"''"'"'s surface to the desired position at the location of each set; and

means for generating a visual indication of the departure of the surface being gaged from said desired position at the location of each set in response to said error signals.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for imaging includes:

first projector means for imaging said one pattern on the surface of said object; and

second projector means, spatially separated from said first projector means along a line generally parallel to the surface of said object being gaged for imaging said other pattern on the surface of said object, wherein the two complementary images in each set superimpose at determinable points in space defining said desired position of the surface of the object at the location of each set.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said first projector means includes means for imaging said one pattern in a first color and said second projector means includes means for imaging said other pattern in a second color different from said first color whereby each image projected by said first projector means can be distinguished from each complementary image projected by said second projector means.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said means for generating a visual indication further includes means for generating a reject signal when said error signals exceed predetermined limits.