Claims
- 1. Scanning apparatus for viewing a wood member for the purpose of ascertaining the profile thereof, said wood member including faces and a side edge, said apparatus comprising:
- illuminating means providing a beam of radiation for projecting an elongated image inwardly in intersecting relation with said side edge and a face of said wood member from a direction obliquely above and to the side of said side edge and along said wood member in a first sense, and
- means for viewing said elongated image from a direction obliquely above and to the same side of said side edge and along said wood member in a second sense so that said image is viewed at a substantial angle.
- 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said image is the image of at least one line.
- 3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said substantial angle is approximately ninety degrees.
- 4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said illuminating means comprises laser light source means.
- 5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said viewing means comprises at least one television camera.
- 6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said elongated image comprises a plurality of substantially aligned line segments extending crossways of said wood member.
- 7. Scanning apparatus for viewing a wood member having substantially parallel faces and a tapered side edge for the purpose of generating a profile from which a model of said member can be provided, said apparatus comprising:
- means for supporting said member with an upper face thereof disposed in a substantially horizontal plane,
- illuminating means providing a beam of radiation for projecting a machine viewable elongated image substantially crossways of the upper face of said member and onto said side edge,
- means for mounting said illuminating means above said wood member at a position laterally displaced from the side edge of said wood member and longitudinally displaced in a first direction along said wood member from the location of the projected image on said wood member so that said beam extends inwardly and intersects said member obliquely for illuminating said side edge to provide the elongated image on said side edge at an angle to the vertical,
- detecting means for viewing said projected image, and
- means mounting said detecting means above said wood member at a position also laterally displaced from the same side edge of said wood member but longitudinally removed in a second direction opposite said first direction along said wood member from the location of said projected image so that said detecting means views said elongated projected image on the side edge of said wood member at a substantial angle to said image in order to facilitate accurate modeling of said side edge.
- 8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said elongated image is the image of at least one line.
- 9. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said substantial angle is approximately ninety degrees.
- 10. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said angle to the vertical is approximately forty-five degrees.
- 11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said substantial angle is approximately ninety degrees.
- 12. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said illuminating means comprises laser light source means.
- 13. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said illuminating means comprise a plurality of radiation sources for conjointly projecting a line image crossways of said member and onto said side edge, wherein individual radiation sources provide segments of said line image, and wherein said detecting means comprise plural television cameras for viewing said segments, the radiation sources being generally aligned crossways of said member and the television cameras being generally aligned crossways of said member but displaced along said member from said radiation sources.
- 14. The apparatus according to claim 13 further including an additional plurality of radiation sources for projecting a line image comprising an extension of the first mentioned line image substantially crossways of the upper face of said member and onto a second side edge, and an additional plurality of television cameras for viewing said extension, including means mounting the additional radiation sources above said wood member at a position laterally displaced from the second side edge of said wood member and longitudinally displaced in a given direction along said wood member from the location of the line image extension, and
- means mounting the additional television cameras above said wood members at a position laterally displaced from the second side edge of said wood member but longitudinally removed in a direction opposite said given direction along said wood member from the location of the line image extension.
- 15. The method of viewing a wood member having substantially parallel faces and a tapered side edge, said method comprising:
- projecting an elongated image inwardly and substantially crossways of a face of said wood member and onto said side edge from a location laterally outboard from said side edge and along said wood member from said image in a first direction, and
- electronically viewing said elongated image from a second location laterally outboard from said side edge and disposed along said wood member in a second direction opposite said first direction for viewing said image at a substantial angle.
- 16. The method according to claim 15 wherein said substantial angle is approximately ninety degrees.
- 17. The method according to claim 15 wherein said elongated image comprises a line image.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part of co-pending patent application Ser. No. 07/867,051, filed Apr. 10, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,491, which is a continuation-in-part of co-pending patent application Ser. No. 07/710,525 filed Jun. 3, 1991, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 07/541,092 filed Jun. 20, 1990, now Pat. No. 5,088,363 issued Feb. 18, 1992, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 07/089,489 filed Aug. 21, 1987, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Continuations (2)
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Date |
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Parent |
541092 |
Jun 1990 |
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Parent |
89489 |
Aug 1987 |
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Continuation in Parts (2)
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867051 |
Apr 1992 |
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710525 |
Jun 1991 |
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