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:
Mar. 16, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1996
Kevin D Edgar, Manitowoc, WI (US);
Jeffrey L Edgar, Manitowoc, WI (US);
Klaus A Wieder, Helenville, WI (US);
Jeff F Falbo, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Robert E Radke, Brown Deer, WI (US);
Richard J Radke, Brown Deer, WI (US);
Silver Creek Nurseries Inc., Manitowoc, WI (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for measuring and storing a tree characteristic that preferably is tree diameter and other data related to location, variety and grade of a tree being measured. The apparatus has a handle, a wand extending therefrom, and a measurement head carried by the wand for measuring diameter. The wand has a control handle connected by a cable to a movable caliper jaw carried by the head to measure a diameter of a tree between the movable jaw and another jaw. A vernier having measurement locator slots and a home position slot is carried by the cable and communicates with slot sensors that send signals to an on-board computer to determine direction and distance of jaw movement for enabling the distance between the jaws to be determined. Two optoisolators and the computer comprise a jaw motion and direction detecting quadrature detector. A third optoisolator detects when the movable jaw is in its home position. The computer includes a microcontroller, a memory for storing tree data, a port for transferring stored data from memory to a PC, and inputs for selecting and storing data. A memory cartridge can be used to store tree data. Software running on the PC enables data to be downloaded, sorted, stored, displayed or printed. The software is also used to configure cartridges by downloading at least a portion of a master list of locations and varieties to a cartridge being configured that can later be selected in the field during apparatus operation.