Patent ID: 6403907
Filing Date: 2002-06-11
Classification: B07C,Y10S

Abstract:
An article dimension measuring apparatus for measuring a dimension of an article, comprising:a light-emitting unit including a plurality of light-emitters arranged in a measuring direction along which a dimension of said article is to be measured; a light-receiving unit including a plurality of light-receivers arranged in said measuring direction; each of said light-emitters forming a light-emitter-receiver combination with two or more light-receivers disposed adjacent each other, each of said light-receivers belonging to two or more light-emitter-receiver combinations, light emitted by each of said light-emitters being simultaneously directed to the light-receivers of the light-emitter-receiver combination to which that light-emitter belongs, said article interrupting light directed to at least some of said light-receivers; a control unit for enabling said light-emitters to emit light one at a time in sequential order so that each of said light-emitters emits light simultaneously toward all of said two or more light-receivers of the light-emitter-receiver combination to which that light-emitter belongs; detecting means for detecting whether or not light emitted by each light-emitter is being received by all of the said two or more light-receivers of the light-emitter-receiver combination to which that light-emitter belongs; and computation means for computing the dimension of said article from a result of detection made by said detecting means, a first distance between said light-receiving or light-emitting unit and a reference plane preset so as to pass through opposite edges of said article in the measuring direction, and a second distance between said light-emitting unit and said light-receiving unit.