Equipment for continuously measuring the length of an endless material being wound up into a circular package

Claim 1

Equipment for continuously measuring the length of endless material which is being wound-up upon a rotating core into a circular package upon a winding machine which comprises a movable member whose position depends on the diameter of the circular package, wherein the measuring equipment comprises: a movable transfer member mechanically coupled to the movable member of the winding machine and provided with three parallel rows of position markers staggered relative to each other in longitudinal direction of the rows; stationary transducer means for sensing the position of the transfer member without contacting the same and producing sensing signals during each revolution of the package dependent upon the diameter thereof; said stationary transducer means comprising three photoelectrical sensors each cooperating with one of the parallel rows of position markers; a cycle signal generator producing a cycle signal during each revolution of the package for controlling the delivery of the sensing signals; counting pulse generating means for generating a continuous series of counting pulses independent of the position of the transfer member; circuitry for generating a digital length measuring signal from the counting pulses and sensing signals occurring upon each cycle signal; and means for summing up consecutive digital length measuring signals.