Apparatus for measuring and recording a tree characteristic
US5884240A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 24, 1996 |
| Grant date | Mar 16, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 24, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01B21/10
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An apparatus for measuring and storing a tree characteristic that preferably is tree diameter and other data related to location, variety and grade of a tree being measured. The apparatus has a handle, a wand extending therefrom, and a measurement head carried by the wand for measuring diameter. The wand has a control handle connected by a cable to a movable caliper jaw carried by the head to measure a diameter of a tree between the movable jaw and another jaw. A vernier having measurement locator slots and a home position slot is carried by the cable and communicates with slot sensors that send signals to an on-board computer to determine direction and distance of jaw movement for enabling the distance between the jaws to be determined. Two optoisolators and the computer comprise a jaw motion and direction detecting quadrature detector. A third optoisolator detects when the movable jaw is in its home position. The computer includes a microcontroller, a memory for storing tree data, a port for transferring stored data from memory to a PC, and inputs for selecting and storing data. A memory cartridge can be used to store tree data. Software running on the PC enables data to be downl…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.