Measuring and testing – Gravitational determination
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-06
2001-06-05
Moller, Richard A. (Department: 2856)
Measuring and testing
Gravitational determination
C073S514260, C073S514330
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240779
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a gravity-type horizontal shift sensing apparatus including two intersected rocking arms rotatably mounted in the apparatus and a weight freely suspended from the rocking arms to always maintain in a vertically downward position due to the gravitation. The rocking arm each is provided at one end with a toothed wheel with which a full circle of optical wheel is associated. When the weight biases due to any horizontal shift of the apparatus, the rocking arms and accordingly the optical wheels thereof are caused to sway. Such sway of the optical wheels can be efficiently sensed by phototransistors mounted on a circuit board.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A horizontal shift sensing apparatus is mounted on and moved along with an object to sense and measure any difference in angle of inclination of the object when the object moves. The object may be a wheelchair, rocker, aircraft, and any vehicle and the apparatus helps horizontal adjustment of such objects with minimized manual manipulation.
FIGS. 1 and 2
are exploded and assembled perspective views, respectively, of a conventional horizontal shift sensing apparatus. As shown, the conventional apparatus mainly includes close-up upper cover
1
and lower cover
11
that have inner seats
10
and
4
, respectively. The inner seat
4
is formed on its upper edges with cuts
41
. Two rocking arms
3
are separately rested across the inner seat
4
with reduced necks
32
provided at two ends thereof seated in the cuts
41
, so that the rocking arms
3
intersect without touching each other. The rocking arm
3
each further has a recess
33
provided at one end outside the reduced neck
32
for a V-shaped spring
42
to engage thereinto, so that the V-shaped springs
42
always restore the biased rocking arms
3
to an original position. A toothed quarter sector
34
is provided at the other end of each rocking arm
3
opposite to the recess
33
. A wheel
43
is mounted onto the inner seat
4
at one side of each rocking arm
3
. Each wheel
43
has an optical wheel
431
associated therewith and a gear
432
sideward projected from a center of the wheel
43
. The toothed quarter sector
34
meshes with the gear
432
and therefore rotates the wheel
43
and accordingly the optical wheel
431
. To allow the rocking arms
3
to sway sideward or forward and backward, the rocking arms
3
have an arched middle portion provided with a through hole
31
. A movable ball
23
having a top hole
231
and a T-shaped bottom member
232
is associated with the rocking arms
3
such that the T-shaped bottom member
232
is located below the through holes
31
of the two rocking arms
3
. A rocker
22
is connected to the movable ball
23
by inserting a lower end thereof into the top hole
231
of the ball
23
. A circuit board
2
provided with recesses
20
is disposed around the wheels
43
, so that outer peripheries of the wheels
43
are located in the recesses
20
. With these arrangements, when the rocker
22
sways, it brings the rocking arms
3
to sway. At this point, the toothed quarter sectors
34
on the rocking arms
3
rotate the wheels
43
. The optical wheels
431
on the rotating wheels
43
move in the recesses
20
of the circuit board
2
. Such movement of the optical wheels
431
is sensed by phototransistors
21
mounted on the circuit board
2
at two sides of the recesses
20
and converted into a value representing a distance of displacement of the rocker
22
.
In the above-described conventional horizontal shift sensing apparatus, the rocker
22
is utilized to shift an object. However, the rocker
22
itself can not be actively controlled. Moreover, the wheels
43
are the only means to indicate the shift of the object and do not provide accurate result. And, since the rocking arms
3
are provided with only one toothed quarter sector
34
each, the quarter sectors
34
tend to disengage from the gears
432
and cause disorder of the wheels
43
when the rocking arms
3
are biased too much by the rocker
22
. The conventional horizontal shift sensing apparatus can therefore be used in limited shifting range. In brief, the whole apparatus needs manual manipulation to drive other electronic elements in the apparatus, including resistances, phototransistors, etc. and has limited effects.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved horizontal shift sensing apparatus to eliminate the drawbacks existing in the conventional apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a gravity-type horizontal shift sensing apparatus that is mounted on an object and employs the principle of gravitation to automatically indicate any horizontal shift of the object through any difference in an angle of inclination of the object. Such difference in the angle of inclination can be sensitively and accurately transferred into circular movement that is sensed by electronic elements on a circuit board to help a user to adjust the object to a desired horizontal position. The gravity-type horizontal shift sensing apparatus of the present invention is fully free of any means for manual manipulation, such as a rocker.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3477293 (1969-11-01), Brede et al.
patent: 3486379 (1969-12-01), Brede et al.
patent: 3498134 (1970-03-01), Bulanzhe et al.
Dougherty & Troxell
Moller Richard A.
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