Patent ID: 6884947

Claim:
Apparatus for checking the force applied by a thin plate including a locking portion, stationary with respect to a reference base, a section of weakness near the locking portion, an intermediate portion and a free end carrying a slider, comprising: a support, coupled to the reference base; a thrust device, coupled to the support and adapted for applying a reference force to the thin plate, substantially along a thrust direction, at a thrust section; detecting devices with at least one position sensor adapted to cooperate with the free end of the thin plate and provide electric signals indicative of the position of the slider along the thrust direction; and a memorizing, processing and control unit connected to said at least one position sensor and adapted to detect, on the basis of the signals of said at least one position sensor, the mutual position, along the thrust direction, existing between the locking portion and the slider, and process a value of the force to be checked on the basis of the value of said reference force and of the position of the thrust section at a pre-determined mutual position along the thrust direction, the thrust device being adapted to cooperate with the thin plate without touching said free end at said pre-determined mutual position.