Abstract: Apparatus for automatically measuring aperture size of apertured material includes a means for supporting and transporting the apertured material and a light source providing a light beam directed for passage through the apertured material to a light detector and is characterized by a comparator mask of alternate light transparent and opaque sectors of a given dimension and means for overlaying the apertured material with the comparator mask to provide a given length of light transparent slot and responsive to signals representing light transmitted through the given length of slot for deriving a signal representing the width of the slots of the slotted material. Also, a process for automatically measuring aperture size includes the steps of overlaying the slotted material with the comparator mask and utilizing a signal from the light detector representing light transmission of the slots of a given length to derive a signal representative of the slot width.

Abstract: A comparator mask for use in apparatus for measuring aperture size of apertured material includes a light transparent section and at least one other section having alternate light transparent and opaque sectors whereby the comparator mask overlays the apertured material to provide an area of light transmission utilized to determine the dimensions of the aperture of the apertured material.

Abstract: Three scanners are disclosed; common to all is an argon ion laser.In the first two versions, light passes through a telescope, which is provided to expand and collimate the laser beam, through a servo-driven iris whose function is to adjust the length of the slit image to be formed by the optics. The beam enters a rotating cradle, passes through a cylindrical lens, and strikes a galvanometer-driven mirror. Rotating the galvanometer about its axis deflects the image of the laser beam on the main scanning mirror. A second lens images the galvanometer mirror onto the CRT panel. In the first version, the main scanning mirror is a flat reflector; in the second version, the scanning mirror is either a prism or a mirror set at 45 degrees to the incident laser beam. In both versions, a motor-driven optical rotator is between the galvanometer-driven mirror and the scanning mirror. Several important features include the servo-driven image rotator and the motor-driven iris.

Abstract: A beam splitting system for use with a welding laser and having means for distributively directing an incoming welding beam along a pair of output optical paths is disclosed whereby a single welding laser may weld either sequentially or simultaneously at a pair of spatially-separated weld sites. For sequential welding, a bimodal beam switch is provided for alternatively switching the weld beam between a pair of alternate optical paths. For simultaneously welding, the bimodal beam switch is replaced by a dielectric beam splitter which divides the beam into transmitted and reflected beams simultaneously propagated along the pair of output optical paths.