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, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 22, 1996
James D King, San Antonio, TX (US);
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for sampling and measuring a physical property of a product in a container (11). The container (11) has an aperture (11a) in its bottom surface, to which a sampling tube (13) is affixed. A piston (14) moves back and forth in the sampling tube (13), thereby withdrawing and replacing samples of product via the aperture (11a). While a sample is in the sampling tube (13), a sensor (15) senses a measured value of the physical property of interest. The piston (14) has a calibration layer (14a) that is made from a material having a property that is similar to that of the product with respect to the property of interest. For calibration, the piston (14) is positioned so that the sensor (15) senses a measured value that can be compared to a reference value to determine if the sensor output is properly calibrated.