Abstract: A computer senses a voltage which is representative of wall thickness and defines with the use of a voltage/thickness curve the thickness of that wall portion. To define this curve, a plurality of voltage/thickness points are inputted by a sensor into the computer Each point is defined by sensing and defining the voltage of a wall portion on a calibration standard having a known thickness and defining a calibration thickness corresponding to that voltage using the following equation{((Calibration Standard Diameter in inches -Container Diameter in inches).times.0.2)+1}.times.Calibration Standard Thickness in mils, andequating these calibration thicknesses to the corresponding voltages produced by the sensor when sensing at least two thicknesses of the standard.

Abstract: A wall thickness inspecting device includes a plurality of channels that generate a voltage signal as the glass container rolls along an elongated capacitance strip. A switch is provided for operation during head cleaning which isolates the data file from bottle rejection data, and from bottle inspected data count.

Abstract: Signal errors generated in a channel of a wall thickness inspecting machine are detected and counted to determine whether the channel should be turned off.

Abstract: A capacitive sensor senses the wall thickness of an object. The sensor has an electrode covered by an adhesive tape including a non-transparent glass cloth tape layer which engages the object and a layer of silicon or acrylic adhesive for securing the tape layer to the electrode. The adhesive and tape have a dielectric constant that is constant throughout the temperature range in which the sensor is to operate.

Abstract: A glass container inspection machine including a bottle handling mechanism which presents glass containers to a capacitive sensor which provides a voltage signal representative of the thickness of the glass container, a computer which receives the voltage signals, a keyboard for inputting data into the computer, and a display. The thickness of a glass container is measured at four points, and as each point is presented to the sensor, the measured thickness in input into the computer, which stores the sensed voltages, correlates them to the input thicknesses, and calculates a curve used to determine glass thickness from sensed voltage. Alternatively, the minimum and maximum thicknesses of a glass container are measured, input into the computer, the container is passed through the machine, and the computer correlates the lowest and highest voltages sensed with the minimum and maximum thicknesses respectively, and uses this data to generate the calibration curve.

Abstract: A device for inspecting a glass container to evaluate its wall thickness. The minimum thickness, the maximum thickness and the minimum to maximum thickness ratio are calculated and an inspected bottle is rejected based on one or more of these three parameters.

Abstract: The thickness of a formed glass container is evaluated around its wall periphery by making a selected sampling of voltage data. An encoder is used which displaces the periphery past a sensor and sampling is synchronized with the pulses of the encoder. When a seam is detected, sampled data is ignored for a chosen number of pulses prior to as well as following and the number of pulses is set by defining the diameter of the container.

Abstract: A selected number of data samples is taken around the periphery of the wall of a container to determine the voltages corresponding to the thinnest and thickest wall locations. These two voltages are then converted to dimensions and a minimum to maximum ratio is calculated using these two dimensions. Where this ratio is lower than a minimum settable value, the bottle will be rejected.