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:
Jul. 11, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 02, 1994
Lauren M Peterson, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Veridian ERIM International, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Abstract
A hand-held instrument provides a simple and elegant approach to determining the presence or absence of a surface condition such as roughening. A light source such as a laser diode illuminates a localized area of the surface to be characterized, and a light-sensitive detector is supported to receive light reflected by the surface and generate an electrical signal representative of the light received. An optical blocking element is placed at a first point along the axis of the reflected light, and a focussing lens is placed at a second point along the axis. If the surface is smooth or not sufficiently roughened, light is reflected substantially along the axis and blocked by the element so it does not reach the detector. If the surface is roughened, however, the reflected light is scattered off-axis and focussed by the lens onto the detector, thereby effectively bypassing the blocking element. Electrical circuitry is connected to receive the output of the detector and activate an indicator to which an operator may refer.