Eaton Corporation

Frederick J Zink

Kish D Amlani

Thomas J Ellwood

Craig Morgan

Theload cell herein disclosed is designed for precise measurement of forces along or parallel to a single axis, while being substantially immune to forces applied along the other mutually perpendicular axes as well as moments applied about any of the three mutually perpendicular axes. Rigid force input and force output members are resiliently interconnected by a pair of parallel flexure beams which establish with such members a parallelogram type of linkage which is relatively yieldable to forces parallel to the selected measurement axis while being relatively stiff and unyieldable to forces parallel to the other two axes and to moments about any of the three axes. A strain gage-equipped sensing beam is mounted within the plane of the parallelogram linkage and between the two flexure beams. One end of the sensing beam is rigidly connected to the fixed force output member, while the other end is free to flex in cantilevered fashion responsive to displacement of the force input member. The sensing beam thereby provides part of the resilient interconnection between the force input and force output members, and is dimensioned so that its stiffness relative to that of the two flexure beams causes it to absorb 80 to 90% of the applied loads. Adjustable overload protection means are provided, which cause excessive forces to be safely by-passed around the resilient members and the strain gages.

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Detroit, MI, United States of America

Frederick J Zink