View Engineering, Inc.

Paul A Braun

Michael W Ormsby

Gary L De Zotell

A can top measuring system is disclosed, including a rotatable turntable (40) containing can top receiving apertures (44). The turntable (40) may also be translated in either the X or Y direction. A differential height sensor (50) surrounds the can top (70) in order that two laser ranger finders (51,52) may emit beams toward opposite sides of the can top (70), the reflected beams being sensed by two dimensional detector arrays (58, 60). Height measurements can also be accomplished by an autofocusing optical system (28) movable along the Z axis. A score line (76) depth in the can top (70) may be measured by observing the characteristic sinusoidal variation (94) of a beam (93) scanned transversely across the score line (76). A node (96) resides on the score line (76) centerline (95), which can thus be scanned as reprsentative of the deepest portion (91) of the score line (76).

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Simi Valley, CA, United States of America

Paul A Braun