Abstract: A roller clamp type wheel examining apparatus includes a support for supporting thereon a wheel of a vehicle to be examined, a plurality of rollers for clamping the wheel supported on the support from both sides thereof and an angle detector for detecting the angle of orientation of the wheel when clamped by the plurality of rollers. The wheel of a vehicle clamped by the rollers on both sides thereof may be driven to rotate around its own rotating axis to thereby examine dynamic characteristics of the wheel. In this case, the support structure should, for example, include a pair of support rollers for supporting thereon the wheel to be examined in a rotatable manner. The support may include a floating table having a flat top support surface and movable in a horizontal plane translationally as well as rotationally, in which case only the dynamic characteristics of the wheel may be examined since the wheel is not rotatable around its rotating axis.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining or adjusting a projecting direction of a light beam emitted from an automobile headlight is provided. In a first aspect of the present invention, the peripheral region of a light beam is used in determining its projecting direction. In particular, a region definable in a light pattern of the projected beam having a proportionality relation between log S and I, where S indicates the value of an area having light intensity I or above, is determined and its outer contour or any predetermined point in the contour is used in determining the projecting direction. In a second aspect, apparatus for determining a projecting direction of a light beam emitted from an automobile headlight includes an indicator which automatically indicates a predetermined position of a light pattern of the light beam projected.

Abstract: A roller clamp type wheel examining apparatus includes a support for supporting thereon a wheel of a vehicle to be examined, a plurality of rollers for clamping the wheel supported on the support from both sides thereof and an angle detector for detecting the angle of orientation of the wheel when clamped by the plurality of rollers. The wheel of a vehicle clamped by the rollers on both sides thereof may be driven to rotate around its own rotating axis to thereby examine dynamic characteristics of the wheel. In this case, the support structure should, for example, include a pair of support rollers for supporting thereon the wheel to be examined in a rotatable manner. The support may include a floating table having a flat top support surface and movable in a horizontal plane translationally as well as rotationally, in which case only the dynamic characteristics of the wheel may be examined since the wheel is not rotatable around its rotating axis.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining or adjusting a projecting direction of a light beam emitted from an automobile headlight is provided. In a first aspect of the present invention, the peripheral region of a light beam is used in determining its projecting direction. In particular, a region definable in a light pattern of the projected beam having a proportionality relation between log S and I, where S indicates the value of an area having light intensity I or above, is determined and its outer contour or any predetermined point in the contour is used in determining the projecting direction. In a second aspect, apparatus for determining a projecting direction of a light beam emitted from an automobile headlight includes an indicator which automatically indicates a predetermined position of a light pattern of the light beam projected.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring the inclination of the wheels of an automobile is provided. In accordance with one form of the present invention, there is provided a toe angle detecting device including a pair of detector plates which are normally spaced apart from each other to allow the corresponding wheel of the automobile to be located therebetween and which are pressed against the wheel from both sides when activated to determine the inclination of the wheel with respect to the longitudinal center line of the vehicle, i.e., toe angle of the wheel. In another aspect, a particular link mechanism is provided to interconnect four support members on which the four wheels of the automobile are placed, and the link mechanism is structured to determine the direction of the longitudinal center line of the automobile with respect to the reference line of the link mechanism.