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:
May. 13, 1986
Filed:
Sep. 13, 1984
R Wendell Goodwin, Dunwoody, GA (US);
Sangamo Weston, Inc., Norcross, GA (US);
Abstract
An optical shaft encoder includes an optical shutter mounted to a shaft, the shutter bearing light transmissive and light reflective areas, at least a first light emitter and a first light detector arranged adjacent one another on one side of the optical shutter, and at least a second light emitter and a second light detector arranged adjacent one another on a second side of the optical shutter and opposite the first light emitter and first light detector. The optical shutter comprises a disk or drum having the reflective and transmissive areas arranged in a predetermined pattern on its surface. The light emitters are alternately energized and the outputs of the two light detectors, which are dependent on the arrangement of reflective and transmissive areas of the optical shutter, are then detected and compared with a predetermined pattern of such outputs representative of the various angular positions the optical shutter and shaft can take. With this arrangement up to 16 different output states are possible. This enables the optical shutter to resolve 1/16 of a revolution of its associated shaft which is more than adequate for detecting the shaft position of a clock-dial type register display of a gas, water or electric meter.