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:
Feb. 28, 1989
Filed:
Aug. 18, 1986
Randall C Graham, Nashville, TN (US);
James D Smith, Jr, Fairview, TN (US);
Essex Group, Inc., Fort Wayne, IN (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for monitoring a rod mill and flexible wire drawn and annealed from a stiff coil of rod in the rod mill are disclosed. The fault signals provided by an eddy-current tester are counted on a per unit time basis in order to permit the detection of rod mill problems before serious deterioration of the mill occurs. This is accomplished by direct observation of an increasing rate of fault signal occurrence. A totalized fault signal count is also provided to aid in detecting low quality wire. This is accomplished by direct observation of uniformly high levels of fault signals. A control function is disclosed whereby the rod mill is shutdown in the presence of a high rate of increase in fault signal occurrences. A 'change coil' message may be sent upon detecting uniformly high levels of faults. Fault signals are stored and identified for purposes of traceability. The invention is broadly applicable in other eddy-current testing contexts, that is, other than that context specifically disclosed for the best mode embodiment.