AU2072300A - Electronic scale ruler - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 Complete Specification Standard Patent *0

ELECTRONIC

SCALE RULER The following statement is a full description of this invention, Including the best method of design, construction and operation known to me.

This invention relates to the construction of an electronic scale ruler with digital display.

PROLOGUE

Most technical drawings and sketches produced either manually or by the means of computer programs require the use of certain scales in order to project the actual size of the designed object, either by reducing or enlarging, onto the intended drawing size.

This is mainly in order to show either the total object or part thereof in S"""sufficient detail on paper or other suitable material.

To place as many details as possible on one drawing or set of drawings various scales are used and subsequently different scale rulers are to be used S•to scale off any dimensions as and if required.

Furthermore because of the present advanced photo copying technology the enlargement or reduction of A Format paper sizes is changing the original scales to non-standard scales and therefore eliminates the use of standard scale rulers.

In addition to these difficulties different temperatures and moisture contents of the air can, through the process of shrinking or expanding ,distort the actual scale to the extend that customary scale ruler can become useless or too inaccurate.

All these problems can be overcome by this invention which provides an advanced electronic device capable of being easily calibrated to nearly each scale required for the metric ,imperial or other length systems In addition it can also be used ,if need be ,to transform scales from one system to the other or to operate with different systems at the same time.

To assist with the explanation and understanding of this invention references will be made to the accompanying drawings which are showing in more detail the general layout and operating features.

DRAWING No 1 The six main parts of the invention are: The Body or Frame The Display Panel The Operating Panel The Microprocessor The Power supply The Lighting This is made out of metal,timber or any other suitable artificial or natural material and or combinations of them.

This is attached to the frame for the display of the linebars numbers and symbols as required.

Attached to the body or frame for the setting of the operating modii.

Preprogrammed computer with all Circuits as required.

A rechargeable batterie with the voltage as required.

Optional only for the illumination of the operating panel,the display area and/or the area to be scaled.

The Mathematical Equation for the Electronic Scale Ruler

SAMPLE

Scale 1 in 160 Dimension (m) As shown on the attached drawing No.s 3A and 3B The required equation is: 1(m) L(m) 160(m) D(m) Scale 1 in 160 L measured length on drawing and scale ruler D distance in natura The horizontal row on drawing No. 3 B column 1 in 160 ,shows the result of the equation L divided by D column 1 column 2 e.g. 0.1 0.2 0.3 160 160 160 column 3 0.000625m or 0.625 mm 0.001250m or 1.250 mm 0.001875m or 1.870 mm 0.062500m or 62.5 mm 10.0 160 Columnl Distance in natura Column2 Value of scale Column3 Quotient multiplied by 1000 mm) equals length in mm on scale ruler for length in m in natura.

As per drawing No. 3 A the results of the equations are then arranged into the columns 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 as preprogrammed and the appropriate display lines switched "ON" By the microprocessor.

THE ELECTRONIC SCALE RULER Principals of Operation There are two principles of operation: No. 1 The operation of the electronic scale ruler with single line bar display is based on the fact that an accuracy of 0.25 mm per 1mm or 0.25mm of any given length to measure or scale is quite sufficient for an average use.

E.g. on 10.00 mm length 0.25mm equals 2.50 incorrect measurement On 100.00mm length 0.25mm equals 0.25 incorrect measurement Therefore all three line bars for the display of the required scale consist of a row of 0.20mm to 0.25mm wide and 3.0 mm to 7.0mm long LCD's or other suitable display bars which can separately switched "ON" or "OFF" by the micro processor.

The maximum number of bars displayed at the same time on the same line bar is every 2 nd (1 ON 1 OFF which consequently limits the number of bars available for display to 20 per 10.00mm 1"ON" 1 "OFF" 2 x 0.25 x 20 10.00mm) The minimum number of bars depends on the required accuracy and, to minimize the inaccuracy by the means of manual interpolation should not be less than 6 per 10.00mm.

Samples of the general appearance of the three line bars 1, 2 and 3 when operating as a scale are shown on drawing No's 3c 3d 4 and 5 as a sample only.

(Scale 1 in 160) The second operating function of scale bar no 1 is the operating mode "Scroll Bar" to determine the unknown scale of a drawing for any distance and its length The operating steps are explained for the following example on the next page.

6 Example For scroll bar use D 47.90m L 89.00mm Distance Scroll bar length The scroll bar length is entered via operating the push button and" Enter" into the micro processor.

The scale of the drawing is the computed as: linX =LinD 1 in X 0.089 in 47.90 X in 1 47.90 in 0.089 X 538.2022 Therefore the scale is 1 in 538.2022 This scale is displayed in the display panel of the operating panel and set for further use.

o No 2 In order to achieve an even higher accuracy it is possible to use line bars with a width of less than 0.2mm, although there will be a limit due to manufacturing and commercial considerations.

Furthermore as there is also a limit to the visibility of these so called micro line bars they can only be used if 1) The closest bar to the mathematically required point is activated (same principal as single line bar layout) and the micro line bars next to this one are also activated to guaranty a sufficient visibility.

2) All other functions remain as per the single line bar.