Coordinate contour tracer

Claim 2

For use in a contour tracing system of the type including a rotatable tracing head having a resolver rotated with said head by a steering head motor to control the orientation of said head and resolver relative a longitudinally extending contour and enable said resolver to control the speed of a pair of coordinate drive motors for moving said head longitudinally along said contour, the improvement comprising a plurality of light sensitive cells of substantially equal area carried by said head, said cells arranged in adjacent juxtaposed positions with two of said cells intermediate the other of said cells, said two intermediate cells being offset from the other cells in the direction of head movement, means for combining the output of one of said intermediate cells with the output of a respective one of the other cells spaced adjacent the other intermediate cell and the output of said other intermediate cell with a respective other cell spaced adjacent one intermediate cell to provide a respective combined output signal for each intermediate cell and respective other cell, and means enabling said combined output signals to be combined for application to said steering head motor to control said steering head motor and coordinate drive motors for moving said head and cells longitudinally along said contour.

Claim 3

For use in a contour tracing system of the type including a rotatable tracing head having a resolver rotated with said head by a steering head motor to control the angular orientation of said head and resolver relative a contour describing either a line or a pattern edge and enable said resolver to control the relative speed of a pair of coordinate drive motors for moving said head to and along either said line or said pattern edge with said edge representing either a left edge or right edge contour, the improvement comprising a plurality of light sensitive cells of substantially equal area carried by said head, said cells arranged in adjacent positions with two of said cells intermediate the other of said cells, means for combining the output of one of said intermediate cells with the output of a respective one of the other cells spaced adjacent the other intermediate cell and the output of said other intermediate cell with a respective other cell spaced adjacent said one intermediate cell to provide a respective combined output signal for each intermediate cell and respective other cell, means for reversing the phase of each said combined output signal, means for combining the combined output signals to provide two groups of resultant signals with one group of resultant signals each individually corresponding to the spacing of said intermediate cells relative a line and a left and right pattern edge and other group of said resultant signals each individually corresponding to the angular orientation of said cells relative said line and a left and right pattern edge, means operable for selecting one spacing signal of said one group of resultant signals and a respective one angular orientation signal of said other group of resultant signals, and means operable in response to said selected one spacing signal reaching a predetermined value for enabling application of the selected angular orientation signal to said steering head motor for controlling the angular orientation of said cells and head relative the corresponding pattern edge or line and said coordinate drive motors to move said head to and along said corresponding edge or line.

Claim 4

For use in a contour tracing system of the type including a rotatable tracing head having a resolver rotated with said head by a steering head motor to control the angular orientation of said head and resolver relative a contour describing either a line or a pattern edge and enable said resolver to control the relative speed of a pair of coordinate drive motors for moving said head to and along either said line or said pattern edge with said edge representing either a left edge or right edge contour, the improvement comprising a plurality of light sensitive cells of substantially equal area carried by said head, said cells arranged in adjacent positions with two of said cells intermediate the other of said cells, means for combining the output of one of said intermediate cells with the output of a respective one of the other cells spaced adjacent the other intermediate cell and the output of said other intermediate cell with a respective other cell spaced adjacent said one intermediate cell to provide a respective combined output signal for each intermediate cell and respective other cell, means for reversing the phase of each said combined output signal, means for combining the combined output signals to provide two groups of resultant signals with one group of resultant signals each individually corresponding to the spacing of said intermediate cells relative a line and a left and right pattern edge and other group of said resultant signals each individually corresponding to the angular orientation of said cells relative said line and a left and right pattern edge, means operable for selecting one spacing signal of said one group of resultant signals and a respective one angular orientation signal of said other group of resultant signals, and means operable in response to said selected one spacing signal reaching a predetermined value for enabling application of the selected angular orientation signal to said steering head motor for controlling the angular orientation of said cells and head relative the corresponding pattern edge or line and said coordinate drive motors to move said head to and along said corresponding edge or line.

Claim 5

ThE improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said enabling means comprises a last differential amplifier, means for applying said selected spacing signal to the inverting input of said last amplifier, and means for controlling said last amplifier inverting input to render said selected spacing signal ineffective until said spacing signal reaches said predetermined value.

Claim 6

In the improvement claimed in claim 3, a capacitor effectively connected to said last amplifier inverting input in the event said contour defines a pattern edge to delay the application of a respective spacing signal to said last amplifier.

Claim 7

In the improvement claimed in claim 3, a normally conductive transistor for rendering each angular orientation signal ineffective to control said steering head motor, and means controlled by said last amplifier in response to a respective spacing signal reaching said predetermined value for rendering said transistor nonconductive to enable the application of the respective orientation signal to said steering head motor.

Claim 8

In the improvement claimed in claim 3, a pair of normally conductive transistors for preventing the application of respective signals from said resolver to said coordinate drive motors, and means controlled by said last amplifier in response to a spacing signal reaching said predetermined value for preventing conduction by either of said pair of transistors.