Patent ID: 8289528

Claim:
A tilt sensor for a measuring instrument, comprising: a movable housing that is controllably rotatable around a rotational axis in relation to a non-rotating base, including a spindle being parallel with said axis, wherein said rotational axis is positionable so as to deviate from a true vertical axis being substantially parallel with the gravity field; a gravity sensitive gradient indicating element arranged such that a surface of said element is positioned orthogonally to said true vertical axis during movements of said measuring instrument, wherein said gravity sensitive gradient indicating element is connected to said spindle to ensure that said gravity sensitive gradient indicating element remains stationary relative to the rotation and movement of said movable housing; and a detecting device adapted to produce at least one detecting signal and to receive at least one response signal from said gravity sensitive gradient indicating element, wherein a deviation between said rotational axis and said true vertical axis is detectable using said at least one response signal.