Automatic sextant
First Claim
1. A sextant system for indicating the angular separation between two objects, comprisinga sextant having a mirror means and a frame means connected at a pivot point to permit rotation of said mirror means and frame means relative to one another, and means for adjusting the angle between said mirror means and frame means to be indicative of the angular separation between said objects,encoding means for generating angle signals indicative of said angular separation,means for deriving said angular separation from said angle signals,a memory for storing reference angle signals for a plurality of celestial bodies,an indicator for alerting the user that said angle between said mirror means and frame means corresponds to said reference angle of a selected celestial body, andcircuitry for comparing said angle signals and said reference angle signals and for triggering said indicator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A sextant for indicating the angular separation between two objects, including two members interconnected at a pivot point, means for adjusting the angle between the members to be indicative of the angular separation between the objects, the means for adjusting including coarse and fine adjustment means, and a pair of encoders for converting the respective positions of the coarse and fine adjustment means to signals which are together indicative of the angular separation. In other aspects, there is a single encoder having a track on the sextant arc and a sensor on the tangent arm; and an indicator tells the user when the sextant has been set to the prestored altitudes of reference celestial bodies.
25 Citations
4 Claims
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1. A sextant system for indicating the angular separation between two objects, comprising
a sextant having a mirror means and a frame means connected at a pivot point to permit rotation of said mirror means and frame means relative to one another, and means for adjusting the angle between said mirror means and frame means to be indicative of the angular separation between said objects, encoding means for generating angle signals indicative of said angular separation, means for deriving said angular separation from said angle signals, a memory for storing reference angle signals for a plurality of celestial bodies, an indicator for alerting the user that said angle between said mirror means and frame means corresponds to said reference angle of a selected celestial body, and circuitry for comparing said angle signals and said reference angle signals and for triggering said indicator.
Specification