Fuzz meter

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY MEASURING THE AMOUNT OF FUZZ FIBERS PER UNIT LENGTH OF YARN, PROJECTING FROM THE SURFACE OF A STRAND OF MOVING YARN, COMPRISING AN ELECTRO-MECHANICAL TRANSDUCER HAVING A PROBE ELEMENT FOR SENSING THE PRESENCE OF SURFACE FUZZ FIBERS ON SAID YARN, SAID TRANSDUCER BEING ADAPTED TO VIBRATE AT AUDIO FREQUENCIES AND TO PRODUCE OUTPUT VOLTAGE PULSES OF A FREQUENCY WITHIN THE LOWER AUDIO-FREQUENCY RANGE WHEN SAID PROBE ELEMENT IS BROUGHT INTO BRUSH CONTACT WITH A SUCCESSION OF FUZZ FIBERS AND IS MOVED THEREBY IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE YARN, A PAIR OF GUIDES FOR GUIDING AND SUPPORTING SAID YARN STRAND WHILE SAID STRAND IS IN TRANSIT PAST SAID PROBE ELEMENT, A FRAME FOR SUPPORTING SAID TRANSDUCER AND SAID GUIDES, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID TRANSDUCER AT A POSITION INTERMEDIATE SAID GUIDES WITH SAID PROBE ELEMENT SPACED A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE FROM THE SURFACE OF SAID YARN STRAND, MICROADJUSTING MEANS FOR PREDETERMING SAID DISTANCE, WHEREBY ONLY SURFACE FUZZ FIBERS COME IN BRUSH CONTACT WITH SAID PROBE ELEMENT, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID YARN STRAND BETWEEN SAID GUIDES AT A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT VELOCITY SUCH AS TO PRODUCE SAID PULSES AT A LOW AUDIO-FREQUENCY, AND INDICATING MEANS ADAPTED TO RESPOND TO VOLTAGE PULSES WITHIN THE LOWER AUDIO-FREQUENCY RANGE PRODUCED BY SAID TRANSDUCER SO AS CONTINUOUSLY TO MEASURE THE AMOUNT OF FUZZ FIBERS PER UNIT LENGTH OF YARN AS A FUNCTION OF VOLTAGE.