Gerber Coburn Optical, Inc.

Gerber Optical, Inc.

Metromedia, Inc.

Gerber Optial, Inc.

Electronic Music Laboratories, Inc.

Jeffrey J Murray

Jonathan M Dooley

Lawrence S Wolfson

Michael J Goulet

Kenneth O Wood

Douglas J Roberts

David J Logan

Robert J Pavone

Alexander Flavio Incera

Daniel J Harris

Paul R Estabrooks

Glenn E Bowley

Peter A Wilcox

Southanou Senethep

Heinz J Gerber

Leonard G Rich

John E Ladue

Norman L Milliard

Jeffrey L Bachiochi

Brian Phelan

Ken Davidson

Richard P Tinson

A retainer for retaining an abrasive pad on a lens making machine and an abrasive pad adapted to such retention comprises a retainer nestable with a lap of a lens making machine wherein when such retainer is nested, a pad placed upon said lap before nesting will be trapped in the desired position. The pad of the invention includes radially outwardly extending members beyond the working area of the pad whose purpose is to be trapped by the retainer. The invention enables automatic loading and unloading of pads on the lens making machine.

Device for retaining abrasive pad on lap in eyeglass lens making apparatus

A retainer for retaining an abrasive pad on a lens making machine and an abrasive pad adapted to such retention comprises a retainer nestable with a lap of a lens making machine wherein when such retainer is nested, a pad placed upon the lap before nesting will be trapped in the desired position. The pad of the invention includes radially outwardly extending members beyond the working area of the pad whose purpose is to be trapped by the retainer. The invention enables automatic loading and unloading of pads on the lens making machine.

A quick change lap retaining device uses radially displaceable blades to engage a groove in the underside of a lap and thereby hold the lap in position. The device fails in the engaged position to prevent inadvertent movement of the lap. Removal of the lap occasioned by disengagement of the blades is preferentially by pneumatic drive but can also be manual.

Retaining mechanism for lapping device

A system for enhancing lens preparation which allows for error compensation to provide nearly error-free lens fining and/or polishing. The system employs a flexure to allow three degrees of freedom for a lens being prepared. The system also employs a Hall effect circuit board to monitor movement of the flexure to account for error, provide feedback to a controller so that compensation for such error can be effected and so that proper force may be maintained. The flexure and the sensor feedback subsystem enable nearly error-free lens surfaces.

Tactile feedback system

In an apparatus for performing work operations on a surface of one or more lenses, a frame and a mounting bracket adapted to releasably support at least one lens blank are provided. At least three pairs of articulated supports are also included with a first end of each of the supports being bendably coupled at a first end to a mounting bracket adjacent to the other articulated support in the pair. The articulated supports are each coupled at a second end to a point on the frame with the supports in each of the pairs diverging away from each other between the mounting block and the frame. A drive is associated with each of the articulated supports and moves each support, and thereby the mounting, individually between a raised and a lowered position in response to commands issued from a controller having data corresponding to a particular lens prescription stored therein. A machining surface is also provided and during operation, as the mounting bracket moves in response to the action of the articulated supports, the lens is engaged with and moves over the machining surface thereby performing a work operation on the lens.

Method and apparatus for performing work operations on a surface of one

Finishing block

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for applying a finishing block to a lens. An imaging screen for imaging an alignment pattern representing characteristics of the lens and reference data on the lens is provided. The lens is positioned in the apparatus with the pattern and the data aligned. With the lens in this position, the apparatus automatically attaches the finishing block to the lens in registration with the reference data.

Apparatus and method for attaching a finishing block to a lens

A lens or lap blank surfacing machine, for use in making eyeglass lenses, and related surfacing method and rotary cutting tool, is one wherein the rotary cutting tool is moved point by point over the entire extent of a face of the blank to form a new face surface on the blank with the movements of the tool and blank relative to one another being controlled in three coordinate directions by a computer controller to give the formed surface a shape related to a given eyeglass prescription or similar specification. The rotary cutting tool has a number of peripheral zones surrounding its rotation axis with at least one of the zones having a fine cutting characteristic and with at least one other of the zones having a coarse cutting characteristic. In the movement of the tool and blank relative to one another, the tool is held so that its fine peripheral zone engages and cuts away blank material immediately adjacent the desired surface and so that the coarse peripheral zone engages and cuts away blank material to a depth not quite reaching the desired surface thereby leaving a thin layer of residual unwanted blank material which is cut away by the fine peripheral zone of the tool at a later time, this permitting the creation of a face surface of desired shape and fine surface finish.

Optical lens or lap blank surfacing machine, related method and cutting

An apparatus for blocking an ophthalmic lens blank for working the lens includes an alignment station for supporting and aligning the lens blank relative to a target image and a transport means for moving the lens from the alignment station to a blocking station while maintaining lens orientation. The blocking station includes a support for a lens block, support for the lens, and a mechanism for injecting heated liquid bonding material between lens and block which solidifies on cooling to join the lens and block.

Lens blocking apparatus

A device for tracing a surface such as one defining the lens opening of an eyeglass frame includes a tracer element moved automatically about a rotational axis surrounded by the traced surface and arranged perpendicularly to the area enclosed by the surface. As this rotation occurs a carrier for the tracer element is moved along a second axis extending perpendicularly to the rotational axis in response to a position error signal developed by the tracer element to maintain the position error signal at a substantially zero value through the use of feedback circuitry. The positions of the carrier about the rotational axis and along the second axis are repeatedly captured during the tracing movement to provide point data defining the shape of the traced surface. Results are a smooth steady movement of the tracer element along the surface with a minimum amount of force being exerted on the traced surface by the tracer element.

Automatic surface tracer

Lap blank for use in optical lens making

A circuit and related method are provided for maintaining a desired spacing between an ink-jet printing means and a receiving surface along a line scanned by the printing means. An ultrasonic transducer transmits signals at timed intervals to the receiving surface from the printing means. A reflected signal from the receiving surface is sensed by the transducer during a receiving time window after the signal is transmitted. A reference position signal representative of the head to surface spacing at a printing location is compared to the desired head to surface spacing to produce a position error signal. A servomotor responds to the position error signal to move the printing means toward and away from the receiving surface to maintain the desired spacing.

Apparatus and method for positioning an ink-jet printing head

An electronic music system includes a voltage controlled tone generator, or synthesizer, and an input device, in the form of a guitar or other fretted stringed instrument and associated electronic circuitry, for sequentially providing voltage signals, selected from a set of discretely different voltage levels each analogously related to a musical tone, for driving the tone generator. Each string-fret pair of the stringed instrument is assigned a given musical tone, preferably in accordance with normal tuning of the instrument, and means are provided for producing a corresponding voltage when a string-fret pair is closed by pressing the string against the fret. When two or more string-fret pairs are simultaneously closed, the output voltage corresponding to the highest frequency musical tone associated with the closed string-fret pairs is produced. In particular, different electrical voltages are applied to the instrument frets so as to apply such voltages to the strings when the strings are pressed into contact with the frets. A multiplexing system repetitively samples the string voltages, adds to each string voltage an offset voltage compensating for the musical intervals between the open strings, and processes the highest summed voltage for output to the tone generator.

Growing community of inventors

Ellington, CT, United States of America

Jeffrey J Murray