Patent ID: 8549899

Claim:
A surface texture measuring instrument, comprising: a measuring portion including a stylus having a contact portion that contacts a surface of a workpiece and a measuring force detecting unit that detects a measuring force when the contact portion contacts the surface of the workpiece; a relative movement unit that relatively moves the measuring portion and the workpiece; a position detecting unit that outputs as measuring point information a measuring point on which the workpiece is measured by the measuring portion, the measuring point information from the position detecting unit being collected while the relative movement unit is driven with the contact portion of the stylus contacting the surface of the workpiece, a surface texture of the workpiece being measured from the measuring point information, a scanning controller that collects a detection measuring force from the measuring portion and drives the relative movement unit such that the detection measuring force substantially coincides with a target measuring force that is a predetermined setting value at which the detection measuring force is to be kept during a scanning measurement; a touch signal generating unit that collects the detection measuring force from the measuring portion and generates a touch signal when the detection measuring force coincides with a contact measuring force that is a predetermined setting value at which a contact of the contact portion with the surface of the workpiece is detected; a switch unit that switches a scanning measurement mode and a touch measurement mode; and a measurement value collecting unit that collects the measuring point information from the position detecting unit based on a predetermined condition when the switch unit is switched to the scanning measurement mode, the measurement value collecting unit collecting the measuring point information from the position detecting unit each time the touch signal is generated from the touch signal generating unit in a state where the switch unit is in the touch measurement mode, when the scanning controller is in operation.