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:
Jul. 28, 1987
Filed:
Jun. 20, 1986
Jeffrey D Taft, Murrysville Boro, PA (US);
James O Seymour, Jr, Murrysville Boro, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A compact optical apparatus for tracking a path of movement of a tool along a line of travel on a workpiece, includes a light source for providing a collimated light beam, wherein the light source is mounted on the tool adjacent the rear of the tool. A cylindrical reflector is mounted adjacent one side of the tool and is positioned in the path of the collimated light beam to reflect at least a portion of the collimated light beam to project a light stripe on the workpiece in front of the tool. The cylindrical reflector is positioned with respect to the collimated light beam and the line of travel of the tool so that the projected light stripe is substantially bisected by the line of travel. A camera is oriented to face away from the workpiece and is used to generate an image of the light stripe projected on the workpiece. An autocorrelation filter is connected to the camera in situations where the tool causes transient images to be produced on the image, for example, when the tool is a seam welder which produces sparks which travel across the field of view of the camera. The autocorrelation filter is employed to remove the spark trails from the image of the projected light stripe.