Apparatus and method for inspecting small articles

US5661249A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Walter Grassle GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Michael L. Rupp · Calabasas, US
• Werner Schiffer · Hersbruck, DE
• Gyula Varhaniovsky · Waltrop, DE
• Thomas Kirchner · Karlsruhe, DE
• Nikolaus Asteriadis · Baltmannsweiler, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 10, 1995
• Grant date: Aug 26, 1997
• Expiry date: Aug 10, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2035/00188
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The invention is a method and an apparatus for inspecting small articles. The invention includes a first rotatable support having a first circumferential surface for holding the small articles; a second rotatable support having a second circumferential surface with the first and second circumferential surfaces being opposed to each other and spaced apart at a closest separation which is greater than a thickness of the small articles and is a transfer point for transferring the small articles from the first circumferential surface to the second circumferential surface; a vacuum source coupled to suction holes disposed at spaced apart locations on the first circumferential surface for holding the small articles at the spaced apart locations during rotation to the transfer point; a vacuum source coupled to suction holes disposed at spaced apart locations on the second circumferential surface for holding the small articles at the spaced apart location during rotation from the transfer point; and a plurality of detector devices, one of the detector devices being offset radially outward from and facing the second circumferential surface of the second rotatable support for viewing one of …