Claims
- 1. Apparatus for gaging the geometry of a selected section of a threaded fastener comprising: gage means comprising a gage element having a surface of complementary form for surface-to-surface contact with a selected section of a fastener to be gaged in such a manner as to measure a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions of said section; holding means for holding said fastener in such a manner as to cause said gage element to engage and measure said selected section; recording means responsive to said gage means for recording the measurements obtained thereby to form recorded data, and data processing means for ascertaining information representative of the geometry of the selected section of a fastener from the recorded data.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said data processing means determines the degree of lobulation dimension of a lobular fastener.
- 3. Apparatus for gaging the geometry of both a holding section and a non-holding section of a threaded fastener comprising: gage means comprising at least three roller means in a spaced, circumferential array about a central axis, each of said roller means having an external surface shaped for engaging said fastener in such a way as to permit measuring a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions of said holding section; a gage element axially spaced from said plurality of roller means and having an external surface shaped for engaging said fastener in such a way as to permit measuring of a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions of said non-holding section; recording means responsive to relative movement of said gage element and of said roller means during rotation of a fastener in surface-to-surface contact with said gage element and with said roller means for recording corresponding recorded data, and data processing means for ascertaining information representative of the geometry of said holding section and of said non-holding section from said recorded data.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said external surface of each of said roller means and of said further gage element is circumferentially formed with at least one groove shaped for engagement with threads of the respective holding and non-holding sections of the fastener to be gaged.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said grooves have a radial depth of no greater than on the order of 0.325 P.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said data processing means further include means for processing said information which has been ascertained for a plurality of fasteners and developing statistical data therefrom.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 3 and further including observable indicator means for direct reading of measured dimensions of each fastener.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said data processing means determines the degree of lobulation of the holding and non-holding sections of the fastener.
- 9. A method for gaging the geometry of both body and point sections of a threaded fastener comprising: providing gage means comprising at least three rollers in a spaced circumferential array about a central axis, each of said rollers having an external surface shaped for engaging said body section in such a way as to permit measuring a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions of said body section; said gage means including a gage element axially spaced from said plurality of rollers and engaging said point section simultaneously with the engagement of said body section by said plurality of rollers for measuring predetermined cross-sectional dimensions of said point section; rotating a fastener to be gaged in surface-to-surface contact with said rollers and with said gage element; recording information corresponding to relative movement of said rollers and to movement of said gage element during said rotating to form recorded data, and ascertaining information representative of the geometry of said body section and of said point section from said recorded data.
- 10. The method of claim 9 and further including recording a plurality of said predetermined dimensions and the respective said information which has been ascertained for a plurality of threaded fasteners and developing therefrom statistical data.
- 11. The method of claim 9 wherein said ascertaining information comprises determining the degree of lobulation of body and point sections of a poly-arcuate fastener.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of my earlier application Ser. No. 494,612 filed Mar. 16, 1990, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
494612 |
Mar 1990 |
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