Apparatus and method for measuring the speed, position, and launch angle of a spherical object in flight by sensing the positions and length of interruption of adjacent light beams
First Claim
1. An apparatus for measuring an instantaneous spatial position of a spherical object in flight, comprising:
- ray projecting means for emitting a plurality of parallel rays of light which are arranged at known locations within a single plane wherein the distance between each neighboring ray of light is set such as to be less than the radius of said spherical object;
ray receiving means for detecting the incidences of said rays of light on said ray receiving means and the interceptions of said rays of light;
an instrumentation means for measuring the time for which said rays of light are blocked off by said spherical object, upon detecting signals given by said ray receiving means; and
operation means for computing an instantaneous spatial position of said spherical object in flight on the basis of the locations of the rays of light which are blocked off, and the interception time of said rays of light which is measured by using said instrumentation means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A ray projecting means emitting a plurality of parallel rays of light, a ray receiving device for detecting the incidences of the rays of light impinging on them and the interceptions of the rays of light, an instrumentation device for measuring the time for which the rays of light are blocked off by a spherical object in flight, upon detecting signals given by the ray receiving device, and an operation device comprising a computer. The parallel rays of light emitted by using the ray projecting device are arranged within a plane, and their respective positions are known quantities. The distance between every two rays of light is set such as to be less than the radius of the spherical object. The operation device is used to compute the flying velocity of the spherical object in flight on the basis of the locations of the rays of light which are blocked off, and the interceptive time of the rays of light which is measured by using the instrumentation device.
43 Citations
16 Claims
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1. An apparatus for measuring an instantaneous spatial position of a spherical object in flight, comprising:
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ray projecting means for emitting a plurality of parallel rays of light which are arranged at known locations within a single plane wherein the distance between each neighboring ray of light is set such as to be less than the radius of said spherical object; ray receiving means for detecting the incidences of said rays of light on said ray receiving means and the interceptions of said rays of light; an instrumentation means for measuring the time for which said rays of light are blocked off by said spherical object, upon detecting signals given by said ray receiving means; and operation means for computing an instantaneous spatial position of said spherical object in flight on the basis of the locations of the rays of light which are blocked off, and the interception time of said rays of light which is measured by using said instrumentation means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13)
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7. An apparatus for measuring an instantaneous spatial position of a spherical object in flight, comprising:
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ray projecting means for emitting a parallel light band; a plurality of ray receiving means for admitting said parallel light band only in the form of a plurality of parallel rays of light, each said ray receiving means being arranged in a known position in a plane of said parallel light band and the distance between any two neighboring ray receiving means is set such as to be less than the radius of said spherical object; an instrumentation means for receiving detecting signals from the plurality of ray receiving means to thereby measure the time for which said rays of light are blocked off by said spherical object; and an operation means for computing an instantaneous spatial position of said spherical object in flight on the basis of the locations of the rays of light which are blocked off and the interception time of said rays of light which is measured by using said instrumentation means. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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14. A method for measuring a vertical launch angle of spherical object, comprising the steps of:
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passing said spherical object through at least two parallel rays of light in which the respective distances and positions of said rays of light from the shot point of the spherical object are known quantities, thereby blocking the transmission of said rays of light from at least one light projector to at least two light receivers to thereby measure the interception time of each ray of light; and computing the position of said spherical object on the basis of the measured value of the interception time of each ray of light. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification