Quality of finish measurement optical instrument
First Claim
1. A portable self-contained field-use instrument for measuring surface finish parameters of a highly reflective surface to determine the distinctness of image of the surface comprising:
- an opaque enclosure which blocks the majority of ambient light from illuminating a portion to be measured of said reflective surface when said instrument is placed upon said reflective surface;
a light source contained within said enclosure;
a single test object for measuring said distinctness of image gloss of said surface contained within said enclosure; and
a binocular viewing port on the exterior of said enclosure for viewing a reflection of said test object illuminated by said light source when said instrument is placed upon said reflective surface;
said test object and said viewing port positioned to produce a predominantly fixed specular reflection angle for viewing said reflection of said test object on said surface.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A small battery powered instrument and method for measuring the finish appearance quality of highly reflective surfaces such as the paint on the exterior body panels of automotive vehicles. The instrument is placed on the surface to be measured; ambient light is prevented from entering from the interior space of the instrument by its opaque enclosure and by a seal which contacts the reflective surface. The user looks through a binocular viewing port at a reflection of a test object on the surface. The test object is illuminated by an internal bulb and internal power source which enables the instrument to be used in the field or with any ambient light levels. In the preferred embodiment, the test object is comprised of lines of alphanumeric characters; each line has successively smaller characters and the reflection is viewed at a fixed 20 degree angle to perpendicular to the surface. The measured value of the surface'"'"'s finish appearance quality is the number of the line that has the smallest characters which are all clearly recognizable to the user. The instrument is comprised of a minimum number of optical components to make this measurement affordable to new markets. The alphanumeric characters provide a greater degree of precision in discerning small differences in finish appearance quality than test objects in the prior art.
25 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A portable self-contained field-use instrument for measuring surface finish parameters of a highly reflective surface to determine the distinctness of image of the surface comprising:
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an opaque enclosure which blocks the majority of ambient light from illuminating a portion to be measured of said reflective surface when said instrument is placed upon said reflective surface; a light source contained within said enclosure; a single test object for measuring said distinctness of image gloss of said surface contained within said enclosure; and a binocular viewing port on the exterior of said enclosure for viewing a reflection of said test object illuminated by said light source when said instrument is placed upon said reflective surface; said test object and said viewing port positioned to produce a predominantly fixed specular reflection angle for viewing said reflection of said test object on said surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for measuring surface finish parameters of a reflective surface to determine the distinctness of image gloss of the surface comprising the steps of:
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placing a self-contained and completely enclosed portable instrument on said surface;
wherein said instrument blocks out ambient light;illuminating a light source within said instrument; projecting a single test image comprised of alphanumeric characters of multiple sizes illuminated by said light source upon said surface; looking through a viewing port of said instrument to view the reflection of said projected test object upon said surface; determining the smallest of said alphanumeric characters in said reflection of said projected test object which can be read with certainty; obtaining a measurement of the quality of the surface finish of said surface by noting the rating which identifies the smallest of said alphanumeric characters in said reflection of said projected test object which can be read with certainty.
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27. A portable self-contained instrument for measuring surface finish parameters of a highly reflective surface to determine distinctness of image gloss of the surface finish comprising:
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an opaque enclosure for blocking the majority of ambient light from illuminating a portion of said reflective surface to be measured when said instrument is placed upon said reflective surface; a light source contained within said enclosure; a test object of sufficiently small dimensions for containment within said enclosure of said portable instrument; said test object including one or more alphanumeric characters; a viewing port on the exterior of said enclosure for viewing a reflection of said test object illuminated by said light source upon said highly reflective surface when said instrument is placed upon said reflective surface; and said test object and said viewing port being positioned to produce a predominantly fixed specular reflection angle of 20 degrees to the perpendicular to said surface when the user looks through said viewing port to view said reflection of said test object on said surface; wherein said fixed specular reflection angle provides objective means for obtaining repeatability of said surface finish measurements from user to user and from day to day.
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Specification