Measuring the volume of a drop, esp. a glass gob - using a television camera and an electronic circuit processing the video signals

摘要

The drop and/or its background is illuminated to provide a high contrast image for the image converter tube of a television camera. The video signals are subjected to a threshold value operation and a time measuring circuit which determines the time taken by each line or trace to cross the drop. The times are each electronically squared and fed to a summing network for addn. The electronic circuits required pref. include digital circuits or microprocessors; for drops radiating heat, e.g. molten glass drops. the background is pref. dark and a colour filter used to obtain a high contrast image. Measuring errors due to deviations from the rotational symmetry of the drop are pref. reduced by taking the picture in two directions aligned at 90 degrees to each other. The exact measurement of a gob is very important in the glass industry, as it determines the wall thickness of a vessel made from the gob. The invention provides a rapid and simple method.