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:
Nov. 23, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 16, 1998
Mark Whitehead, Northwich, GB;
Assembly Technology & Test Ltd., Buckingham, GB;
Abstract
An apparatus for determining the depth of a tire tread includes a radiation source for illuminating the tread of a tire, the direction of the illumination being non-normal with respect to the local surface of a portion of a tire under inspection, at least one detector responsive to radiation reflected from the tire, and a data processor responsive to the at least one detector for calculating the tread depth. In one embodiment, differences in displacement between radiation reflected from the top surface of a tread and radiation reflected from the bottom surface of a tread are measured to determine tread depth. In a second embodiment, the shadow cast by the top surface of the tread over the bottom surface of the tread is measured to determine tread depth. A third embodiment employs a sheet of radiation with varying wavelength to determine the tread depth.