Patent ID: 7876951

Claim:
A machine for inspecting the finish area of a vertical glass container at an inspection station comprising means for rotating the glass container at the inspection station, first and second vertically extending light sources each having a light axis for illuminating a selected portion of the rotating glass container, the light axis of each of said first and second light sources being horizontal, substantially in the same horizontal plane as the finish of the glass container, intersecting proximate the axis of the glass container at the finish, and defining between them an orthogonal angle, said light sources having a selected “on” time followed by a selected “off” time, means for turning said light sources “on” and “off” a plurality of consecutive times, a camera having a detector axis intersecting said glass container axis with said light axes and defining an angle of approximately 45 degrees above the horizontal and 45 degrees with each light axis, said camera including a triggerable imaging portion for imaging the selected illuminated portion of the glass container, said camera having an exposure time at least equal to the time required for the rotating glass container, said camera having an exposure time at least equal to the time required for the rotating glass container to rotate through said defined angle of rotation, means for triggering the imaging portion of said camera when the bottle is at the beginning and end of said defined angle of rotation so that the camera will image said selected portion of the container as said glass container rotates through said defined angle of rotation, and means for capturing and transferring the image when the trigerring means is triggered at the end of said defined angle of rotation.