Claims
- 1. A method for forming and using a hollow, cylindrical column of laser light, which comprises:(a) forming a continuous and unbroken 360° plane of laser light extending radially outwardly from a longitudinal axis; (b) directing the plane of laser light against a projector cone angled at 45° relative to the axis to thereby reflect the plane of laser light into a hollow, cylindrical column of laser light; and (c) projecting the hollow, cylindrical column of light with a predetermined diameter to ensure that a cylindrical geometry is received within the hollow, cylindrical column of light.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further including the step of adjusting the plane of laser light and the projector cone relative to one another along the longitudinal axis for adjusting the predetermined diameter of the hollow, cylindrical column of laser light.
- 3. A method for forming a hollow, conical column of laser light, which comprises:(a) forming a plane of laser light extending radially outwardly from a longitudinal axis; (b) directing the plane of laser light against a projector cone angled at 45° relative to the axis to thereby reflect the plane of laser light into a hollow, cylindrical column of laser light; and (c) intercepting the hollow, cylindrical column of laser light projected from the projector cone with a diverting cone shaped to convert the hollow, cylindrical column of laser light into a hollow, conical column of laser light.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the forming step comprises forming a continuous and unbroken 360° plane of laser light extending radially outwardly from a longitudinal axis.
- 5. A method for forming and using a hollow, cylindrical column of laser light, which comprises:(a) forming a hollow, cylindrical column of laser light of predetermined diameter; and (b) projecting the hollow, cylindrical column of laser light to ensure that a cylindrical geometry is received within the hollow, cylindrical column of light.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/670,684, filed Sep. 27, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,578, which claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/156,497 filed Sep. 28, 1999.
US Referenced Citations (28)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
04284994 |
Oct 1992 |
JP |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
English translation of previously submitted Japanese Patent Document (4-284994), Nishikawa et al., published Oct. 10, 1992. |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/156497 |
Sep 1999 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/670684 |
Sep 2000 |
US |
Child |
10/281775 |
|
US |