JP2003083703A - Measuring instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a measuring instrument which can be made lightweight and whose costs can be reduced. SOLUTION: A thimble 61 and an external cylinder 51 at a micrometer 1 are formed of a resin material for a laser marking which is colored in a chromatic color when a laser beam is irradiated, the thimble 11 and the external cylinder 51 are irradiated with the laser beam, and graduations 81A, 91A and numerals 81B, 91B are printed. Since the thimble and the external cylinder are formed of the resin material, the measuring instrument can be made lightweight. Since the thimble and the external cylinder are formed of the resin material for the laser marking, the graduations and the numerals in the chromatic color can be formed when only the laser beam is irradiated. Consequently, without coloring the graduations and the numerals, a process can be saved by its portion, and the costs of the measuring instrument can be reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a measuring device, and more particularly to a measuring device such as a micrometer or a micrometer head for measuring the length and thickness of an object to be measured.

[0002]

[Background Art] Conventionally, the thimble and outer cylinder of a measuring instrument such as a micrometer are formed by cutting and grinding metal, and then plated on the surface. It is being printed. However, if the thimble and outer cylinder are made of metal, cutting and grinding must be performed.
Since the laser marking is performed after the plating process, many steps and labor are required, and the processing cost is high, so that the cost is increased. Further, since it is made of metal, there is a problem that the weight becomes heavy. Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present applicant first applied for a measuring device in which a thimble is formed of a transparent resin (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-82902). According to this publication, the thimble is formed of a translucent resin, and a vernier scale is formed on its inner peripheral surface by marking, printing, two-color molding, laser printing, or the like. Further, a main scale and numbers are formed on the outer circumference of the outer cylinder. The basic scale and the intermediate scale constituting the main scale are colored in different colors.

[0003]

However, according to the measuring instrument of the above publication, since the thimble is formed of the translucent resin, the weight can be reduced, but the vernier scale has marking, printing,
It is formed by laser printing or the like. Of these, the engraving and printing steps are difficult because they are performed on the circumference, and it is difficult to obtain high precision. Also, in the case of laser printing, it is easy to print, but since it is colored after that, there are many steps, Although the cost is cheaper than, the cost is still high,
Cost reduction is not enough.

An object of the present invention is to provide a measuring instrument which can be reduced in weight and cost.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the thimble and the outer cylinder are formed of a resin material for laser marking that develops a chromatic color by irradiation of a laser beam, and the thimble and the outer cylinder are provided with the It is a measuring instrument characterized by irradiating a laser beam to print a scale and numbers.

According to the present invention as described above, since the thimble and the outer cylinder are made of a resin material, weight reduction can be achieved. Further, the thimble and the outer cylinder are formed of a resin material for laser marking, and this resin material emits a predetermined color when irradiated with laser light. Therefore, the thimble and the outer cylinder are irradiated with the laser light at predetermined positions. As a result, chromatic scales and numbers can be formed. Therefore, it is not necessary to color the scales and numbers after they are formed, and the corresponding steps can be omitted, so that the chromatic scales and numbers can be easily formed and the cost can be reduced.

In the present invention, any measuring device may be used as long as it has a thimble and an outer cylinder. For measuring the dimensions such as length and thickness of an object to be measured, an outside micrometer, an inside micrometer, a micrometer head, and a hole Examples include a depth micrometer that can measure depth and the like. Also, the resin material for laser marking is not particularly limited as long as it can be colored in a chromatic color by irradiation with laser light,
A thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or a thermosetting resin such as an epoxy resin or a phenol resin can be used. Furthermore, the laser used is not particularly limited. For example, a carbon dioxide gas laser, a ruby laser, a semiconductor laser, an argon laser or the like can be used.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the measuring instrument according to the first aspect, the resin material for laser marking is
It is an ABS resin in which a special colorant is added to the resin material. According to the present invention as described above, the thimble and the outer cylinder having excellent impact resistance can be formed, and since the ABS resin can be plated, for example, a part of the thimble and the outer cylinder are plated. It can also be used as a part, in which case it is possible to improve the appearance and improve the durability.

In the present invention, the colorant is not particularly limited as long as it is colored chromatically by irradiation with laser light, and examples thereof include organic and inorganic pigments, dyes, inorganic lead compounds, yellow iron oxide and leuco. Leuco dyes such as crystal violet leuco marachite green can be used.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the measuring device according to the first or second aspect, the thimble and the outer cylinder are used for a micrometer. According to the present invention as described above, since the micrometer includes the thimble and the outer cylinder formed of the resin material for laser marking, it is possible to reduce the weight of the micrometer. Further, since the micrometer is provided with a chromatic scale, a thimble and an outer cylinder formed of a resin material for laser marking capable of forming a number only by irradiating a laser beam, the thimble and the outer cylinder are: After forming the scale and numbers, do not color them,
Since the number of steps can be omitted, the cost of the micrometer can be reduced.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, a micrometer 1
Is provided with a substantially U-shaped frame 11.
The anvil 21 is held at one end of the
A sleeve 30 is fixed to the other end side. The sleeve 30 includes an inner sleeve 31 whose base end side is fixed to the frame 11, and a frame 11 of the inner sleeve 31.
The outer sleeve 51 is an outer cylinder that is fixed to the outer periphery of the outer sleeve 51.

A plurality of slit grooves and a female screw are provided on a part of the inner circumference of the tip of the inner sleeve 31, and the male screw portion 41A of the spindle 41 is screwed into the female screw. The outer sleeve 51 is formed by molding, for example, ABS resin, which is a laser marking material and to which a special colorant is added. As the colorant, for example, a leuco dye, particularly leuco malachite green is used. With this, when a laser beam is irradiated to form a print, the print is formed in green.

The tip portion of the spindle 41 where the male screw portion 41A is not formed is the fixed portion 1 of the inner sleeve 31.
1A is slidably fitted, and the spindle 41 is
The anvil 21 is held so that it can move back and forth. One end of a thimble 61 is rotatably fitted to the outside of an outer sleeve 51 fitted and fixed to the outside of the inner sleeve 31, and the other end of the thimble 61 is attached to the spindle 41.
It is integrally connected with. At the rear end of the spindle 41, a ratchet mechanism 71 that idles when a load of a certain amount or more is applied to the spindle 41 is provided. The thimble 61 is an AB containing a colorant different from the colorant.
It is formed by molding S resin. As the colorant, for example, a leuco dye, particularly leuco crystal violet is used, and when a laser beam is irradiated to form a print, the print is formed in blue.

As shown in FIG. 2, a main scale graduation 81A and a main scale number 81B are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the outer sleeve 51 at a constant pitch along the axial direction. In addition, the thimble 61 that is substantially in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the outer sleeve 51.
The outer peripheral sloping surface 61A is irradiated with laser light using, for example, a carbon dioxide gas laser, and a vernier scale 91A that divides the circumferential surface into 50 equal parts is formed in blue at a constant pitch along the circumferential direction. It is printed. Although the gap between the outer sleeve 51 and the thimble 61 is enlarged in FIG. 3, it is actually a small gap.

The main scale 81A formed on the outer sleeve 51 has a base line 811 and a basic scale 81 of 1 mm pitch.
2 and an intermediate graduation 8 arranged between the basic graduations 812
13 and each of the scales 812 and 813 shows a displacement amount of 0.5 mm. On the contrary,
The thimble 61 moves back and forth between the scales 812 and 813 (0.5 mm) by one rotation, and the main scale graduation 81 by two rotations.
It moves back and forth by one scale (1 mm) of A (basic scale 812). That is, the pitch of the thimble 61 is 0.5 mm. Therefore, one scale of the vernier scale 91A in which the circumferential surface of the thimble 61 is divided into 50 equal parts is the main scale graduation 8
It corresponds to 100 equal parts of 1A scale (1 mm) of 1A,
One scale of the vernier scale 91A indicates a displacement amount of 0.01 mm.

Here, the base line 8 constituting the main scale graduation 81A
11, the basic scale 812 and the intermediate scale 813 are printed in green. The main scale number 81B is also printed in green. On the other hand, vernier scale 91A and vernier scale number 91B
Is printed in blue.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the object to be measured is sandwiched between the anvil 21 and the spindle 41, and the green main scale 81A closest to the end of the thimble 61 and not covered by the thimble 61 is read. When the main scale 81A is the basic scale 812, the measurement value is obtained by reading the subscale 91A based on the blue subscale number 91B.

According to this embodiment as described above, the following effects can be obtained. (1) The thimble 61 and the outer sleeve 51 of the micrometer 1 are made of ABS as a laser marking material.
Since it is made of resin, it can be made lighter and lighter than a micrometer equipped with a metal thimble and an outer sleeve.

(2) Since the thimble 61 of the micrometer 1 and the outer sleeve 51 are made of ABS resin as a laser marking material to which a leuco dye or the like is added, chromatic color and thimble 61 can be obtained only by irradiating laser light. Can be formed in blue and the outer sleeve 51 can be formed in green. Therefore, after forming the scales and numbers, it is possible to omit the process without coloring, and it is possible to easily form the chromatic scales and numbers, and to reduce the cost. You can

(3) The ABS resin is excellent in impact resistance, and the micrometer 1 is provided with the thimble 61 and the outer sleeve 51 formed of such ABS resin. Therefore, the micrometer 1 is excellent in impact resistance. It can be the meter 1. Moreover, since the ABS resin can be plated, it is possible to use, for example, a part of the thimble and the outer cylinder as the plated portion, in which case it is possible to improve the appearance and improve the durability. Becomes

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications and improvements within a range in which the object of the present invention can be achieved are included in the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the thimble 61 is formed of an ABS resin containing a colorant that changes to blue when irradiated with laser light, for example, leuco crystal violet, and the outer sleeve 51 is
It is formed of an ABS resin to which a colorant that changes to green when irradiated with laser light, for example, leucomalachite green is added, but both may be reversed. That is, the thimble 61 may be formed of an ABS resin containing a colorant that changes the color of the thimble 61 to green and the outer sleeve 51 to blue.

Further, in the above embodiment, the thimble 6
1 is made of a colorant that turns blue when irradiated with laser light, for example, an ABS resin to which leuco crystal violet is added, and the outer sleeve 51 is added with a colorant that turns green when irradiated with laser light, for example, leucomalachite green. Although formed of ABS resin, the ABS resin forming the thimble 61 and the outer sleeve 51 may not change to blue or green when irradiated with laser light. In short, the printing may be chromatic color such as black or yellow.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the thimble 61 and the outer sleeve 51 are formed by molding, but the invention is not limited to this, and they may be cut out.

In the above embodiment, the micrometer 1 is described as an object, but the measuring instrument according to the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an outer measuring micrometer, an inner measuring micrometer, It can also be implemented in a measuring instrument having a thimble 61 such as a depth micrometer, a micrometer head, a digital micrometer capable of measuring the depth of a hole, etc., and in these cases as well, the same effect as described in the above embodiment is obtained. The effect of is obtained.

[0025]

According to the present invention, since the thimble and the outer cylinder are made of a resin material, weight reduction can be achieved. Further, the thimble and the outer cylinder are formed of a resin material for laser marking, and this resin material emits a predetermined color when irradiated with laser light. Therefore, the thimble and the outer cylinder are irradiated with the laser light at predetermined positions. As a result, chromatic scales and numbers can be formed. Therefore, after forming the scales and numbers, it is possible to avoid coloring and
Because it is possible to omit the process for that, the chromatic scale,
The numbers can be easily formed and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a micrometer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a thimble portion of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a thimble portion of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Micrometer as a measuring instrument 30 sleeves 41 spindle 51 Outer sleeve that is an outer cylinder 61 thimble 81A main scale 81B Main scale number 91A vernier scale 91B vernier number

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A thimble and an outer cylinder are made of a resin material for laser marking which is colored chromatically by irradiating a laser light, and the thimble and the outer cylinder are irradiated with the laser light to print a scale and numbers. Measuring instrument characterized by. 2. The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the resin material for laser marking is an ABS resin obtained by adding a special colorant to the resin material. 3. The measuring instrument according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thimble and the outer cylinder are used for a micrometer.