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:
Jun. 01, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 02, 1997
David J Hepner, Elkton, MD (US);
Michael S Hollis, Abingdon, MD (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
An optical alignment device having a sensor housing with obstructing geomy which restricts the amount of sunlight that enters the sensor and impinges upon a photoelectric cell within the sensor body. The restriction of light properly maintains a constant area of illumination of the photoelectric cell over a wide range of incident angles about the insensitive axis. Variations in incident angle about the sensitive axis produces a significant change in illumination area for small changes in the incident angle. Thus, the device produces a significant change in output with respect to alignment with its sensitive axis and an invariant output with respect to alignment to its insensitive axis.