Fori Automation, Inc.

Dean A Colwell

Paul George Doan

A method and apparatus for automatically inserting valve stems of varying sizes into wheels of various sizes in which the appropriate valve stem size is selected by analyzing images of the wheel detected by a camera. The camera is used to determine the diameter, width, and color or contrast of the wheel as well as to determine when a valve stem opening in the wheel is in a proper position for insertion of a valve stem.

Automatic valve stemming method and apparatus

A method and apparatus is provided for reducing the combined runout of an uninflated automobile tire and wheel assembly. Runout is reduced by aligning a tire mark located on the tire with a wheel mark located on the wheel, where the tire mark is indicative of the high point of radial runout of the tire and the wheel mark is indicative of the low point of radial runout of the wheel. The location of the wheel mark is tracked using a video camera while the wheel is rotated relative to the tire and rotation is halted once the linear distance between the marks is minimized. The locations within the video image of the tire and wheel marks are determined relative to a Cartesian coordinate system having its origin at the center of the video image. The direction of relative rotation is selected based upon which quadrants contain the marks and, in the case of the marks being in the same or non-contiguous quadrants, the direction of rotation is selected based upon a comparison of the slope of a line extending through the origin and the wheel mark with the slope of a line extending through the origin and the tire mark. The speed of rotation can be varied during rotation in accordance with the distance between the marks.

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Chesterfield Township, MI, United States of America

Dean A Colwell