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:
Oct. 02, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 29, 1999
Mark Ollis, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Christopher C. Fromme, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Timothy Ennis Hegadorn, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Alonzo James Kelly, Sewickley, PA (US);
John Bares, Wexford, PA (US);
Herman Herman, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Anthony J. Stentz, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Richard McCargo Moore, Jr., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
David K. Herdle, Cranberry Township, PA (US);
Frank Higgins, Cranberry Township, PA (US);
Bryan G. Campbell, Cranberry Township., PA (US);
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A mining machine having a position sensing and control apparatus is claimed. The mining machine has a vehicle body having forward and rearward ends and movable along a mine floor. A cutter head is mounted on the forward end of the mining machine for upward and downward movement relative to the vehicle body. A conveyor mounted on the vehicle body conveys material cut by the cutter head. The position sensing and control apparatus has at least one light source and at least one imaging device mounted on the machine. The position sensing and control apparatus captures images of natural features of an interior surface of a mine, digitizes the images and determines the distance between the imaging device and the natural feature to determine positional change of the machine.