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. 04, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 19, 2004
Arun Prakash, West Chester, PA (US);
Roger Albert Karmes, North East, MD (US);
Judith Elaine Obetz, Newtown Square, PA (US);
William B. Schenk, Avondale, PA (US);
John P. Gallagher, Hockessin, DE (US);
Allan Blase Joseph Rodrigues, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US);
Arun Prakash, West Chester, PA (US);
Roger Albert Karmes, North East, MD (US);
Judith Elaine Obetz, Newtown Square, PA (US);
William B. Schenk, Avondale, PA (US);
John P. Gallagher, Hockessin, DE (US);
Allan Blase Joseph Rodrigues, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US);
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
The method of present invention and the device used therein is directed for characterizing unknown metallic flakes present in an existing coating on a substrate such that a matching metallic paint composition can be formulated and applied over the substrate to produce a metallic coating having characteristics, such as flop, that match the existing coating. The method includes directing a beam of light at a preset intensity towards a target portion of a target coating; directing a reflection of the portion to a photosensitive surface to capture a target image of the target portion; measuring characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes in the target image at said preset intensity; correlating the characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes in the target image to stored characteristics of known metallic flakes at that preset intensity to identify one or more the known metal flakes that match the characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes; and displaying the identified one or more known metal flakes that match the characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes. Once the characteristics are known, a formulator can then formulate a metallic paint that can be applied over the surface of a substrate, such as a repaired autobody, to produce a metallic coating that matches the remainder of the autobody.