Electro-optical plane aligning apparatus

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ELECTRICAL DETECTION OF THE PITCH AND AZIMUTH OF ANGULAR ORIENTATION OF A WORK PLANE RELATIVE TO A REFERENCE PLANE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: AN OPTICAL SECTION AND AN ELECTRICAL SETION; SAID OPTICAL SECTION HAVING A LIGHT SOURCE, A COLLIMATING LENS SYSTEM, A MIRROR SURFACE ON SAID WORK PLANE, AN APERTURE IN THE FOCAL PLANE OF SAID COLLIMATOR LENS SYSTEM, A BEAM-SPLITTER BETWEEN SAID APERTURE AND SAID COLLIMATOR LENS SYSTEM WHEREBY AN IMAGE OF SAID APERTURE IS FORMED IN A COMPARABLE FOCAL PLANE DEFINED BY SAID BEAM-SPLITTER AND SAID COLLIMATOR LENS SYSTEM; SAID ELECTRICAL SYSTEM HAVING A LIGHT-SENSITIVE BRIDGE NETWORK FOR PROVIDING AN ELECTRICAL INDICATION OF SAID PITCH AND SAID AZIMUTH; SAID BRIDGE NETWORK COMPRISING A FIRST AND SECOND WHEATSTONE BRIDGE, EACH OF SAID WHEATSTONE BRIDGES HAVING FIRST AND SECOND ACTIVE PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE CELLS LOCATED IN SAID COMPARABLE FOCAL PLANE AND FIRST AND SECOND TEMPERATURE COMPENSATING PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE CELLS, WHEREBY VARIATION IN THE POSITION OF SAID LIGHT IMAGE ON SAID ACTIVE PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE CELLS OF SAID BRIDGE CAUSES ITS VOLTAGE OUTPUT TO PROVIDE A TEMPERATURE INDEPENDENT INDICATION OF THE PARTICULAR ANGULAR ORIENTATION INVOLVED.