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:
Apr. 24, 1990
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1988
Michael A Reed, Greenland, NH (US);
Environmental Products Corp., , DE (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and process permit the material of construction and the color of transparent and partly transparent containers to be determined rapidly and accurately. To determine the material of construction, polarized light is passed through the container, portions of the transmitted beam are analyzed by parallel and cross polarizers, the intensities of the analyzed beams are measured, and the sum and difference of the analyzed beams are determined. Preferably, the determination is made with at least two wavelengths of polarized light, and the sums and differences of the intensities of the different wavelengths are determined. Glass containers do not alter the polarization of the transmitted light, while many types of plastic containers do alter the polarization, and this difference serves as the basis for the differentiation. The color of the container, whether it be glass or plastic, is determined by calculating a color index as the difference in the transmitted intensity for light of different wavelengths, and this difference, particularly when normalized by the sum of the transmitted intensities, serves as a color index for characterizing the color of the container. An automated apparatus for performing this determination is provided.