EP0083568A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Manual muscle tester
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1983-01-04
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Granted: —
•
Expires: 2003-01-04
Abstract
Abstract A portable manual muscle tester has an external actuator (13), a case (11) capable of being held in one hand and a digital display (12) indicating peak force applied to the actuator. Strain gauges (50-53) connected in a bridge circuit (55) are located on a flexure beam (28) contacted by the actuator, and constituted by a cantilever beam shaped to fit the small case and to prevent reflected or mounting stresses being registered in the force display. The circuit from the strain gauge bridge to the display includes an instrumentation amplifier (85) followed by a peak freeze circuit (86) that includes operational amplifiers (87, 97) and a peak freeze capacitor (93). The peak freeze capacitor provides a voltage that is ready by a digital volt meter (47). A further operational amplifier (110) connected as an integrator feeds back from the peak freeze circuit to an input of the instrumentation amplifier to reset the meter to zero afterthe displayed force reading has been noted.
Inventors
- 👤 James A. Nicholas
- 👤 Richard Krukowski
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 09:09
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01L; G01L1/00; G01L1/20; G01L1/22; G01L1/225; A; A61; A61B; A61B5/00; A61B5/103; A61B5/11; A61B5/1107; A61B5/22; A61B5/224; A61B2505/00; A61B2505/09
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
61 words
A manual muscle tester including a housing (11) suitable for being held in one hand,a force-responsive actuator (13) extending externaLLy of the housing, means (28,85) connected with the actuator and housed in the housing for eLectricaLLy measuring forces applied to the actuator, and an indicator (86,47) connected to the measuring means and housed in the housing for displaying the force measured.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
61 words
A manual muscle tester including a housing (11) suitable for being held in one hand,a force-responsive actuator (13) extending externaLLy of the housing, means (28,85) connected with the actuator and housed in the housing for eLectricaLLy measuring forces applied to the actuator, and an indicator (86,47) connected to the measuring means and housed in the housing for displaying the force measured.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
A tester as claimed in CLaim 1 in which the measuring means comprise means for exclusing forces based on their direction of application to the actuator.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
100 words
A tester as claimed in CLaim 1 or CLaim 2 in which the measuring means includes flexure responsive means comprising strain gauges mounted on a cantilever beam and electrically connected in a bridge, the bridge circuit being connected to have an output value substantiaLLy proportional to force applied normal to the beam and being connected to eliminate measures of force applied in directions other than normal to the beam. The measuring means also including means applying a voltage to the bridge and means for measuring and displaying a voltage from the bridge representative of said output value of the bridge.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
60 words
A tester as claimed in any of CLaims 1-3 in which the measuring means includes a 'T' shaped cantilever beam, to which the actuator is connected near one end of its central stem, the beam is supported on the arms of the 'T' and flexure responsive means are mounted on the central stem between the one end and the arms.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
49 words
A tester as claimed in Claim 4 in which the arms of the 'T' turn back to be spaced from and on either side of the stem of the 'T' and the beam is supported at the ends of the turned back portions of the arms of the 'T'
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
A tester as claimed in any of the preceding claims including an eLectricaL circuit between the measuring means and the indicator which include a peak freeze element.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
64 words
A tester as claimed in CLaim 6 in which the peak freeze element comprises a capacitor connected to the output of a first operational amplifier and to the input of a second operational amplifier connected in a feedback circuit to a first amplifier, the output of the second amplifier being connected to the indicator and the second amplifier having a high input in beams.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
78 words
In a flexure of the kind comprising a cantilever beam and means on the beam responsive to force applied to the beam to provide an electrical characteristic indicative of the magnitude of the force; the improvement comprising mounting means for the beam located at a position thereon removed from any straight line through the material of the beam, whereby forces applied to the beam are not reflected back from the mounting means to the means responsive to force.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
78 words
In a flexure of the kind comprising a cantilever beam and means on the beam responsive to force applied to the beam to provide an electrical characteristic indicative of the magnitude of the force; the improvement comprising mounting means for the beam located at a position thereon removed from any straight line through the material of the beam, whereby forces applied to the beam are not reflected back from the mounting means to the means responsive to force.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
79 words
A manual muscle tester including force responsive means comprising a cantilever beam in the form of a 'T' having means for applying a force to one end of the stem of the 'T', the beam being supported at the ends of turned back portions of the arms of the 'T' spaced from and on either side of the stem, and comprising means responsive to flexure of the beam mounted on the stem between the said end and the arms,
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
79 words
A manual muscle tester including force responsive means comprising a cantilever beam in the form of a 'T' having means for applying a force to one end of the stem of the 'T', the beam being supported at the ends of turned back portions of the arms of the 'T' spaced from and on either side of the stem, and comprising means responsive to flexure of the beam mounted on the stem between the said end and the arms,
Claim 13
Independent Claim
61 words
A method of manual muscle testing including engaging a test subject with an actuator forming a part of a manual muscle test instrument, converting the force applied between the subject and the actuator to an eLectricaL signal, digitaLLy displaying the magnitude of the force by measuring the electrical signal so generated and displaying a force indication based on the signal measurement.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
61 words
A method of manual muscle testing including engaging a test subject with an actuator forming a part of a manual muscle test instrument, converting the force applied between the subject and the actuator to an eLectricaL signal, digitaLLy displaying the magnitude of the force by measuring the electrical signal so generated and displaying a force indication based on the signal measurement.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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