The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 10, 1985
Filed:
Aug. 13, 1984
Ganesh Rajagopal, Richardson, TX (US);
The Mead Corporation, Dayton, OH (US);
Abstract
A belt system of the type having a transparent belt entrained about a pair of support rollers which includes an improved alignment apparatus having a plurality of opaque flags positioned along an edge of the belt and shaped to taper in a transverse dimension, an encoder for detecting movement of the belt about the rollers and generating a signal proportional in frequency to the speed of the belt, a fixed photodetector which senses the passage of a portion of the flag through a narrow window so that the time of passage is determined by the position of the belt and flag relative to the sensor, an adjusting roller actuated by a stepper motor which laterally positions the belt relative to the support rollers, and a microprocessor which determines the position of the belt from the number of pulses generated during a period of time in which the sensor detects the passage of a flag and actuates the stepper motor to position the tracking roller to shift the belt laterally in response to the number of pulses counted. In a preferred embodiment, a timer introduces a time delay between successive counting periods, the time delay varying in duration inversely with the amount of lateral deviation of the belt from its desired position.