Contour measurement system
First Claim
1. A measurement system for measuring a contour comprising:
- a track comprising a plurality of straight track sections of equal length pivotally interconnected to extend continuously between two points;
a vehicle including wheel means engaging the track to enable the vehicle to traverse the composite length of said track, and including;
first and second, longitudinally spaced along said track, track followers, and a reference arm interconnecting said track followers, each track follower being adapted to contact and align with a different one of said track sections, andangular detection means coupled between said first and second track followers for providing as an output a signal representative of the sum of the angles between said reference arm and said track followers; and
position detection means for providing a position identifying output signal of a position of said vehicle along said inteconnected tracks, and including means for providing at least one such position identifying signal when said first track follower is in engagement with one said track, and said second track follower is in engagement with an adjoining said track, whereby at least one output of said angular detection means may be identified as being representative of the angle between each pair of adjoining said tracks.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A measurement system for measuring the departures from a straight line of discrete track sections of a track along a coal face in a mine employing a vehicle having a pair of spaced wheel assemblies which align with the track. A reference arm pivotally connects between the wheel assemblies, and there is indicating means for measuring the angle of pivot between the arm and each of the wheel assemblies. The length of the device is less than the length of a track section, and thus when one of the wheel assemblies is on one track section and one is on an adjoining track section, the sum of the indicated angles will be indicative of the angle between track sections. Thus, from the length of a track section and angle, the departure of each track section from the line may be calculated.
-
Citations
5 Claims
-
1. A measurement system for measuring a contour comprising:
-
a track comprising a plurality of straight track sections of equal length pivotally interconnected to extend continuously between two points; a vehicle including wheel means engaging the track to enable the vehicle to traverse the composite length of said track, and including; first and second, longitudinally spaced along said track, track followers, and a reference arm interconnecting said track followers, each track follower being adapted to contact and align with a different one of said track sections, and angular detection means coupled between said first and second track followers for providing as an output a signal representative of the sum of the angles between said reference arm and said track followers; and position detection means for providing a position identifying output signal of a position of said vehicle along said inteconnected tracks, and including means for providing at least one such position identifying signal when said first track follower is in engagement with one said track, and said second track follower is in engagement with an adjoining said track, whereby at least one output of said angular detection means may be identified as being representative of the angle between each pair of adjoining said tracks. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
Specification