Abstract: Use of ultrasonic stimulation together with a pressure sensitive piezoelectric material in a sensor makes it possible to obtain three dimensional pressure measurements on an object in one operation. A piezoelectric material which is manufactured with a conductive surface on both sides, and shear orientation (i.e. piezo voltage produced by pressure on the material is sensitized in a single axis of the shear plane), and generates a proportional voltage when stretched or compressed (and tension and compression is sensed by the generation of opposite polarity voltages), makes it possible to measure normal forces by ultrasonic stimulation, and shear forces by the generation of piezo voltages, using the same sensor. In a preferred embodiment, multiple sensors are disposed in a high density array, and the various axes for the three dimensional measurements are obtained by varying the orientation of each sensor relative to an adjacent sensor.

Abstract: An infrared scanner for sensing temperature is presented with the inclusion of a meter providing a digital read-out of the temperature. The scanner utilizes an infrared detector, scanning a field including a reference of known temperature and an object of unknown temperature. The scan is performed by a raster controlled by a horizontal oscillator and a vertical sweep circuit. During the scan, video signals are emitted from a video amplifier, which signals correspond to the temperature of objects within the raster. Delay circuits are provided in interconnection between the video amplifier, horizontal oscillator, and vertical sweep circuit for isolating video signals corresponding to the temperature of the reference and the object. A logarithmic amplifier receives such video signals and produces an output indicative of the temperature of the object as a function of the temperature of the known reference.

Abstract: Magnetically encodable tags in tape format are written sequentially with tire identifying data and applied to the sidewall material of a green tire. The encoded data may be read from the tire at any point in the tire manufacturing process and the signals indicative of the tire identification number converted to an alphanumeric display and/or fed to a process control computer for on-line quality assurance and control or stored as a recorded history of the tire manufacturing process for inventory control.