US4233740A — Photogrammetric plotter and constraint free drive…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 204 words

A photogrammetric instrument having a supporting base, way bars mounted on said supporting base and a photocarriage stage mounted on said way bars for translation along at least one selected axis, position transducer means for sensing the position of said photocarriage stage along said at least one axis and producing an electrical signal indicative of said position and drive motor means operating between said base and said photocarriages stage for driving said photocarriages stage relative to said supporting base along said axis, improvement in said drive motor means comprising a drive rod having a longitudinal axis which is substantially parallel to said at least one axis, means supporting said drive rod on one of said (1) supporting base, (2) photocarriage stage so as to allow said rod to pivot and move transverse to its longitudinal axis, said drive motor means including means for engaging said drive rod, and means mounting said drive motor means on the other one of said (1) supporting base, (2) photocarriage stage such that any non-parallelism between said drive rod and the movement along said one axis will result in a displacement of said drive rod with respect to said drive motor means in directions transverse to said longitudinal axis.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 204 words

A photogrammetric instrument having a supporting base, way bars mounted on said supporting base and a photocarriage stage mounted on said way bars for translation along at least one selected axis, position transducer means for sensing the position of said photocarriage stage along said at least one axis and producing an electrical signal indicative of said position and drive motor means operating between said base and said photocarriages stage for driving said photocarriages stage relative to said supporting base along said axis, improvement in said drive motor means comprising a drive rod having a longitudinal axis which is substantially parallel to said at least one axis, means supporting said drive rod on one of said (1) supporting base, (2) photocarriage stage so as to allow said rod to pivot and move transverse to its longitudinal axis, said drive motor means including means for engaging said drive rod, and means mounting said drive motor means on the other one of said (1) supporting base, (2) photocarriage stage such that any non-parallelism between said drive rod and the movement along said one axis will result in a displacement of said drive rod with respect to said drive motor means in directions transverse to said longitudinal axis.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 27 words

The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said drive rod is mounted on said photocarriage stage and said drive motor means is mounted on said supporting base.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 74 words

The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said drive rod is circular and has a mounting end, said mounting end having a reduced diameter, a mounting bracket for said drive rod, said mounting bracket having aperture therein, said aperture having a diameter substantially larger than the diameter of said mounting end but smaller than the diameter of said drive rod, and means resiliently securing the mounting end of said drive rod in said aperture.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 66 words

The invention defined in claim 3 wherein said means resiliently mounting includes a coil spring coaxial with the reduced diameter end of said drive rod, and a nut threadably engaged with said the reduced end of said drive rod so as to provide an adjustable tension in said spring and said drive rod mounting to thereby adjust the resistance to transverse displacements of said drive rod.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 85 words

The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said drive means releasably engages said drive rod and includes, a V shaped drive wheel and gear means coupling said V shaped drive wheel to said servo motor, a cam shaft eccentrically mounted relative to said V shaped drive wheel, bearing means mounted on said cam shaft and control means for rotating said cam shaft to bring said bearing out of engagement with said drive rod to thereby disengage said drive rod with respect to said drive assembly.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 20 words

The invention defined in claim 5 including a spring normally biasing said bearing means into engagement with said drive rod.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 124 words

The invention defined in claim 1 wherein there are a set of orthogonally related way bars, one for an X axis and one for a Y axis, one of sets of way bars being movably supported by the other of said sets of way bars, said position transducer means includes a position transducer for transducing the position of said photocarriage along the X axis and a position transducer for transducing the position of said photocarriage along the Y axis, a separate drive rod and drive assembly for each said X and said Y axis and a computer, switch means for selectively passing signals from said position transducers to said computer at all times and from manual control elements for each of said servo motors.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 217 words

In a stereoplotter having a supporting base, a first set of way bars mounted in said base and a pair of trolley elements movably mounted on said first set of way bars, a second set of way bars supported on said trolley elements, a photocarriage mounted for movement on said second set of way bars, the improvement in means for driving said photocarriage along one of said sets of way bars comprising, a drive rod extending parallel to the direction of drive along one of said sets of way bars, means mounting one end of said drive rod on one of said pair of trolley elements so that said rod is displaceable transverse to the direction of drive, a rotatable drive wheel and motor for rotating same, and, means causing said drive wheel to bear on said drive rod, said drive rod being rigidly supported at said one end only in an axial direction, the mounting of said drive rod at said one end being in and permitting movements of said rod transverse to the direction of drive and the longitudinal axis of said drive rod whereby any non-parallelism between the set of way bars establishing direction of drive of said photocarriage and said drive rod results in movement of said drive rod in the fashion stated.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 217 words

In a stereoplotter having a supporting base, a first set of way bars mounted in said base and a pair of trolley elements movably mounted on said first set of way bars, a second set of way bars supported on said trolley elements, a photocarriage mounted for movement on said second set of way bars, the improvement in means for driving said photocarriage along one of said sets of way bars comprising, a drive rod extending parallel to the direction of drive along one of said sets of way bars, means mounting one end of said drive rod on one of said pair of trolley elements so that said rod is displaceable transverse to the direction of drive, a rotatable drive wheel and motor for rotating same, and, means causing said drive wheel to bear on said drive rod, said drive rod being rigidly supported at said one end only in an axial direction, the mounting of said drive rod at said one end being in and permitting movements of said rod transverse to the direction of drive and the longitudinal axis of said drive rod whereby any non-parallelism between the set of way bars establishing direction of drive of said photocarriage and said drive rod results in movement of said drive rod in the fashion stated.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 60 words

The invention defined in claim 8 including a second drive rod mounted on said trolley in the same fashion as said first drive rod and orthogonal thereto, a second drive wheel, and a second means for causing said drive wheel to bear on said second drive rod to thereby drive said photocarriage in a direction transverse to said first direction.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 85 words

The invention defined in claim 8 wherein said means mounting one end only to said drive rod in cantilever fashion includes, a drive rod mounting bracket secured to one of said pairs of trolley elements, said mounting bracket having an aperture therein. an extension on said drive rod, said extension having a diameter which is less than the diameter of said aperture and passing therethrough, and means between said mounting bracket and said elongated drive rod resiliently maintain the longitudinal axis of said elongated rod.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 126 words

In a photogrammetric instrument having a supporting base, an optical viewing system on said base, a photocarriage for carrying at least one photo under said optical viewing system, a position transducer for sensing the position of the photocarriage relative to said base and said optical viewing system and producing electrical information signals and applying same to a utilization device, and motor means for driving said photocarriage along at least one selected linear path, the improvement comprising, said motor means being a slippable friction drive said slippable friction drive includes means for declutching said slippable friction drive to permit freewheeling manual movement of said photocarriage with respect to said optical viewing system said position transducer is at all times adapted to sense the position of said photocarriage.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 126 words

In a photogrammetric instrument having a supporting base, an optical viewing system on said base, a photocarriage for carrying at least one photo under said optical viewing system, a position transducer for sensing the position of the photocarriage relative to said base and said optical viewing system and producing electrical information signals and applying same to a utilization device, and motor means for driving said photocarriage along at least one selected linear path, the improvement comprising, said motor means being a slippable friction drive said slippable friction drive includes means for declutching said slippable friction drive to permit freewheeling manual movement of said photocarriage with respect to said optical viewing system said position transducer is at all times adapted to sense the position of said photocarriage.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 63 words

The invention defined in claim 11 wherein said motor means includes a V-wheel, a drive rod supported in cantilever fashion, solely at one end from said photocarriage and having a longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the direction of drive, said drive rod being displacable transversely of said longitudinal axis upon the lack of parallelism between said drive rod and said selected linear path.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 34 words

The invention defined in claim 12 including at least one further motor means and cantilever mounted drive rod constituting a second slippable friction drive for driving said photocarriage along a orthogonally related linear path.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 34 words

The invention defined in claim 13 wherein each of said slippable friction drives includes means to disengage said drive so as to permit said photocarriage to be freely and manually positioned by the operator.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1983-11-18	1984-05-19	1984-11-18	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1987-11-18	1988-05-19	1988-11-18	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1991-11-18	1992-05-19	1992-11-18	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Photogrammetric plotter and constraint free drive system therefore

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