Claims
- 1. An apparatus for producing electronic data representations of an object comprising:
- a data gathering station;
- a material removal station; and
- a shuttle providing relative movement of the object between said stations along a path defined by an x-axis;
- wherein said data gathering station comprises:
- an image data acquisition device for successively acquiring images of the object after removal of a predetermined contour; and
- an electronic device operatively associated with said image data acquisition device for receiving and storing said images;
- wherein said material removal station comprises:
- a tool constructed and arranged to remove a predetermined contour of material from the object; and
- a drive mechanism constructed and arranged to provide relative movement between the tool and the object, a component of the movement being along a z-axis which is perpendicular to said x-axis, such that the tool can be moved into and out of relative material removing engagement with said object;
- wherein said shuttle comprises:
- a table for holding the object;
- a drive mechanism constructed and arranged to provide relative movement between said table and the tool along said x-axis such that the object and the tool are moved in material removal alignment for removing a predetermined contour of material from the object and in imaging alignment to said image data acquisition device after removal of a predetermined contour; and
- position determining apparatus operatively arranged to determine the relative locations of the object and the tool along the x-axis and to actuate the image data acquisition device at predetermined positions of the object relative to the tool and comprising a linear encoder with a scale and a sensor and a computer, the scale having predetermined linear increments, the sensor being constructed and arranged to send signals to the computer in response to the relative movement between the sensor and the scale, the computer being programmed to determine the position of the scale relative to the sensor in response to the signals received from the sensor, the scale and sensor being operatively associated with each other such that the position of the object relative to the tool along the x-axis is incrementally determined by the computer.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the drive mechanism is constructed and arranged to move the table along the x-axis to provide the relative movement between the object and the tool, with the tool being stationary.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the scale is stationary and the sensor is attached to the table such that the sensor moves with the table in close proximity to the scale.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the sensor is stationary and the scale is attached to the table such that the scale moves with the table in close proximity to the sensor.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the image data acquisition device comprises a line scan camera which takes linear images along a y-axis extending substantially perpendicular to the x-axis.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the camera is triggered by signals generated by the position determining apparatus.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the image data acquisition device comprises a camera and the material removal station comprises a casing on which the camera is mounted for initial adjustment along said z-axis until a focal point is achieved, the camera then being locked in place such that the distance between the camera lens and the object is fixed while data is being gathered by the data gathering station.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the casing is a solid structure to which the camera is stably secured.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein object illuminating lights are positioned at the data gathering station to direct light onto the encasement and the object when they are in imaging alignment with said image data acquisition device.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the image acquisition device is a camera with a lens mounted within a shroud having an opening at one end opposite and in alignment with the camera lens, and said lights being positioned within the shroud in proximity to the opening to direct light through the opening.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation-in-part of pending application Ser. No. 08/638,915, filed Apr. 25, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,961 which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/284,253 filed Aug. 2, 1994 and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,648.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
638915 |
Apr 1996 |
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Parent |
284253 |
Aug 1994 |
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