Laser beam level instrument
First Claim
1. A laser beam level instrument of the kind used in surveying and comprising,laser light generating means including a solid state light source for producing an intense beam of rapidly diverging laser light from the solid state light source, light from the light source and for directing the collimated light beam downwardly in a truly vertical direction, androtatable mirror means for deflecting the vertically directed light beam substantially ninety degrees while swinging the deflected light in a horizontal plane.
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Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
A lightweight, portable laser beam level instrument has an optical path which includes a solid state light source; a pendulous, positive lens; a rotatable pentaprism or mirror equivalent; and a glass plate which is tilted to provide fine tuning. The level instrument also includes a damping mechanism, a waterproof enclosure and a clip-in battery pack.
The solid state light source is a diode in a specific embodiment and produces an intense beam of rapidly diverging infrared laser light.
The postiive lens is suspended below the diode at approximately the focal length of the lens from the diode to collimate the light. The pendulous suspension lens maintains the beam in a truly vertical position with respect to the earth to provide self-leveling in a limited range of movement of the instrument. The pentaprism or equivalent converts this vertical beam to a horizontal beam.
The glass plate is positioned between the diode and the lens and can be tilted in two orthogonal degrees of adjustment to provide a fine tuning for optical centering of the diode and the lens.
Oscillation of the pendulous lens is damped by magnetic or air damping.
102 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A laser beam level instrument of the kind used in surveying and comprising,
laser light generating means including a solid state light source for producing an intense beam of rapidly diverging laser light from the solid state light source, light from the light source and for directing the collimated light beam downwardly in a truly vertical direction, and rotatable mirror means for deflecting the vertically directed light beam substantially ninety degrees while swinging the deflected light in a horizontal plane.
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21. A method of swinging a laser light beam through a truly horizontal plane so as to be useable in surveying and construction, said method comprising,
generating an intense beam of rapidly diverging laser light from a solid state light source, collimating the diverging light by a positive lens positioned at the focal length of the lens from the light source so as to substantially image the emitted light at infinity on the opposite side of the lens, suspending the positive lens below the light source in a pendulous mount which permits the collimated light beam to be directed downward in a truly vertical direction within a limited range of self-leveling, and deflecting the vertically downwardly directed light beam substantially 90 degrees while swinging the deflecting light beam in a truly horizontal plane.
Specification