Dual beam optical gyroscope pickoff

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE PITCH AND YAW INCLINATION OF THE SPIN-AXIS OF A SUBSTANTIALLY SPHERICAL SPINNING BODY COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, (A) A LIGHT SOURCE DISPOSED WITHIN A HOUSING, (B) SAID HOUSING HAVING FIRST AND SECOND NARROW APERTURES THROUGH WHICH NARROW BEAMS OF LIGHT RAYS GENERATED BY SAID SOURCE ARE EMITTED, EACH OF SAID BEAMS BEING EMITTED IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION, (C) A RETICLE SURFACE GIRDING THE SPINNING BODY, SAID RETICLE SURFACE DEFINED BY A CIRCULAR SEGMENT OF REVOLUTION ABOUT THE SPINNING AXIS OF SAID BODY, SAID ZONES HAVING A GENERALLY TRIANGULAR CONFIGURATION DISPOSED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY ON SAID BODY, SAID SURFACE BEING DIVIDED INTO TWO ZONES OF VARYING REFLECTIVITY AND SAID RETICLE SURFACE BEING DISPOSED WITHIN THE PATH OF THE SAID LIGHT BEAMS WHEREBY SAID LIGHT BEAMS ARE REFLECTED IN A DIRECTION DIFFERING FROM SAID PATH, THE INTENSITY OF SAID REFLECTED LIGHT BEAMS VARYING ACCORDING TO THE ZONE OF THE RETICLE SURFACE DISPOSED WITHIN THEIR PATHS, (D) A FIRST OPTICAL MEANS FOR DIRECTING AND FOCUSSING THE LIGHT BEAM EMITTED THROUGH THE FIRST APERTURE ONTO THE RETICLE SURFACE IN THE FORM OF A FIRST FLYING SPOT, (E) A SECOND OPTICAL MEANS FOR COLLECTING AND FOCUSSING SAID REFLECTED LIGHT BEAM WHICH EMANATED FROM SAID LIGHT SOURCE THROUGH SAID FIRST APERTURE IN SAID HOUSING, (F) A FIRST PHOTO-ELECTRIC DETECTOR DISPOSED IN THE PATH OF THE LIGHT BEAM COLLECTED AND FOCUSSED BY SAID SECOND OPTICAL MEANS FOR DETECTING VARIATIONS IN THE INTENSITY OF SAID LIGHT BEAM, (G) A THIRD OPTICAL MEANS FOR DIRECTING AND FOCUSSING THE LIGHT BEAM EMITTED THROUGH THE SECOND APERTURE ONTO THE RETICLE SURFACE IN THE FORM OF A SECOND FLYING SPOT, SAID SECOND FLYING SPOT BEING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY DISPLACED FROM SAID FIRST FLYING SPOT ON SAID RETICLE SURFACE, (H) A FOURTH OPTICAL MEANS FOR COLLECTING AND FOCUSSING SAID REFLECTED LIGHT BEAM WHICH EMANATED FROM SAID LIGHT SOURCE THROUGH SAID SECOND APERTURE IN SAID HOUSING, AND (I) A SECOND PHOTO-ELECTRIC DETECTOR DISPOSED IN THE PATH OF THE LIGHT BEAM COLLECTED AND FOCUSSED BY SAID FOURTH OPTICAL MEANS FOR DETECTING VARIATIONS IN THE INTENSITY OF SAID LIGHT BEAM.