Inclinometer with hemispherical bowl and conducting mercury - detects tangents of boundaries remotest from centre in mutually perpendicular directions

摘要

The clinometer consists of a hollow body made from an insulating material. It has a lid and is partially filled with mercury, which can be displaced along the surface with a circular cross-section. The surface is made with conducting tracks, which form a part of two detectors to determine the position of the liquid by shorting two or more of the tracks and cutting out resistors (8) which would otherwise be in circuit. The signal produced thereby is transmitted to an indicator. The direction of inclination is also determined. The first detector transmits a signal, which is a measure of the position of a tangent in a given direction at the boundary of the conducting mercury (2). This point is the one furthest away from the centre of the concave surface. The second detector produces a signal, which measures the position of the tangent at the boundary in a direction at right angles to the first tangent. It is also the point furthest away from the centre of the concave surface.