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:
May. 06, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 30, 2000
Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A pair of chucks, which grip end portions of a cylindrical glass tube blank, are moved by a chuck moving mechanism toward each other, so that softened glass in an intermediate portion of the cylindrical glass tube blank is gathered, thereby forming a shape that is suitable for blow molding a light emitting tube portion. In the approaching movement, the position of one chuck is detected by using a laser position detector, and a result of the detection is fed back to the chuck moving mechanism, so as to control the approach distances of the chucks. The laser position detector detects the position of the chuck itself. Therefore, even when the positional relationship between the chuck and the chuck moving mechanism is varied, or backlash or deformation occurs in the chuck moving mechanism, the correct position of the chuck still is detected irrespective of such variation, backlash or deformation. Consequently, it is possible to effectively prevent the approach distances of the chucks from deviating from a desired value.