Abstract: An inspection device for inspecting projections of a part which can be applied to a variety of parts having projections on the surface thereof such as leads of electronic parts having varying shapes. The inspection device includes a member having a two-dimensional surface to which projections of the part are two-dimensionally pressed at a predetermined pressure, and an arrangement for detecting a pressure distribution pattern on the surface of the member as well as a converter for converting the detected pattern to two-dimensional pattern information. Further, a memory is provided for storing a reference pattern of the projections of the part so that inspection may be effected by comparing the reference pattern with the converted two-dimensional pattern information.

Abstract: Bar codes and auxiliary characters representative of the contents of the bar codes are printed on an article which is limited with respect to the available space in distinguishably recognizable and superposed relations. By selecting appropriately the lightness of the auxiliary characters, reflected light resulting from scanning of the bar code is converted into an electrical signal which is subsequently converted into a binary signal with the signal components due to the auxiliary characters being neglected, to thereby extract only the signal originating in the bar code. A bar code reader is provided which comprises an A/D converter for compensating the output of bar code detection due to the character pattern superposed on the bar code.

Abstract: Disclosed is a shape detecting apparatus comprising a slit projector for projecting a slit bright line on a number of objects arrayed in a line, an image forming lens for forming the bright line image, an image scanning mechanism for the bright line image formed through the image forming lens in a height direction of the object and a one-dimensional image sensing device for self-scanning the bright line image formed therein with an array of image sensing elements orthogonal to the scanning direction by the image scanning mechanism.