A positioning apparatus including a quill on which a probe apparatus can be mounted, at least one motor for positioning the quill in a substantially vertical dimension, and a pneumatic counterbalance mechanism for the quill. The positioning apparatus is configured, based on at least one factor relating to the quill, to automatically effect a change in the pneumatic counterbalance mechanism's pressure so as to thereby adapt the counterbalance force on the quill provided by the pneumatic counterbalance mechanism.

A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) includes an articulated arm including rotary joints. At least one of the rotary joints includes bearings; a shaft that engages an inner diameter of the bearings, the shaft configured to rotate about an axis of rotation of the bearings; a housing having at least one port that engages an outer diameter of at least one of the bearings; and at least one transducer configured to output an angle signal corresponding to an angle of rotation of the shaft relative to the housing about the axis of rotation. The shaft has two ends, the two ends may be concentric to within one tenth of thousands of an inch (0.0001), or the at least one port of the housing may have no portion whose diameter is narrower than the outer diameter of the first bearing or the second bearing.

A positioning apparatus including a moveable member moveable along a bearing guideway in a first dimension, the moveable member including at a first end thereof at least first and second bearing members which are preloaded against corresponding first and second sides of a concave corner of the bearing guideway.

A geometry-detecting machine for a slender body includes a fixed reference frame (30, 31) provided with at least one pair of constraint points (1) for the slender body and sensor element (28) for the spatial detection of the geometry of the slender body, wherein the constraint points are in the shape of vertical constraints points (1, 3, 5) coupled in pairs by interconnecting element (4, 34) in turn making up vertical constraint points to be coupled in pairs on multiple levels and wherein the interconnection element are pivoting arms, such to allow the slender body to meander freely in order to guarantee for the slender body an attitude as natural as possible.

Bidirectional measuring head (1) comprising: a stationary frame (12), a feeler (2), a kinematic motion assembly (13) which is supported by the stationary frame and carries the feeler to enable the feeler to move along two measuring directions (D1, D2) perpendicular to each other, and at least one position sensor (3a3b) that is mounted on the kinematic motion assembly and detects the position of the feeler along at least one measuring direction. The kinematic motion assembly has four columns, each of which runs perpendicular to the two measuring directions: a first column (14) is rigidly linked to the support frame, a second column (15) is adapted to translate along both measuring directions and supports the feeler, a third column (16) and a fourth column (7) each performs a displacement almost exclusively along one of the two measuring directions. The kinematic motion assembly may be a deformable mechanism. The kinematic motion assembly further comprises two balancing elements (60) each of which is hinged to the stationary frame so as to rotate around a rotation axis (33) perpendicular to the measuring directions and comprises one end which is mechanically constrained to the third column or the fourth column.

There is provided a measuring device (dial gauge) capable of performing measurement with a desired measuring force regardless of the posture of the measuring device. A dial gauge in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a measuring force adjustment unit provided to a body case and capable of moving and being positioned and fixed in a direction substantially parallel to a moving direction of a spindle. A biasing means has one end directly or indirectly engaged with the spindle and the other end directly or indirectly engaged with the measuring force adjustment unit, and biases the spindle toward a tip end. The measuring force adjustment unit includes an external thread portion and a connection supporting member having one end screwed with the external thread portion and the other end coupled to the biasing means. The connection supporting member is screw-fed by rotationally operating the external thread portion in such a manner that a position of the connection supporting member is changed and fixed.

A method for correcting an angular deviation between a real angle and an ideal angle between motion axes of a coordinate measuring device. The angular deviation depends on position, temperature, and/or loading mass. Values of a position-dependent angular deviation for partial measurement ranges of the coordinate measuring device are determined, and/or a difference between the angular deviation in a partial measurement range and a total measurement range, and the position-dependent angular deviation is corrected by using these values. Values of the temperature-dependent angular deviation for at least two different temperatures are determined and the deviation is corrected based on these. Values of the loading-mass-dependent angular deviation for loading the coordinate measuring device with at least two different loading masses are determined in a range of loading masses and/or information is obtained for correcting the loading-mass-dependent angular deviation in a temperature range and the deviation is corrected by using one of the values or information.

A Coordinate measuring apparatus (100) includes a probe (102) configured to detect a workpiece and a movement mechanism (110) configured to support the probe (102) and enable the probe (102) to move in mutually-orthogonal X, Y, and Z directions. The movement mechanism (110) includes a Z-axis drive portion (141) and a spindle (162) configured to enable the Z-axis drive portion (141) to move relative to the Z direction. The Z-axis drive portion (141) includes a rotational drive mechanism (142) including a rotational drive source (148) and a drive pulley (150) to which the rotational drive source (148) provides rotation, and an open belt (164) fixed to the spindle 162 at both ends of the open belt (164) in the relative movement direction (Z direction) of the Z-axis drive portion (141) and configured to engage with an output shaft (154) of the drive pulley (150).

The present invention relates to a coordinate measuring machine with a measuring system for measuring a workpiece, a carrier structure for carrying the measuring system and a base plate for supporting the workpiece. The carrier structure is movably guided in at least one direction on the base plate. The coordinate measuring machine also has a first support system with at least three supports for supporting the base plate, a second support system and a control device for controlling the second support system dependent on a force application to the first support system. The present invention also relates to a method for compensating for large workpiece masses on a coordinate measuring machine.

A base of a measurement apparatus in which decrease in strength can be prevented while reducing weight is achieved. A base (10) of a three-dimensional measurement apparatus (1) configured to measure a workpiece (W) with a probe (30) includes a placement unit (12) on which the workpiece (W) is placed, and a guiding unit (14) provided on a side surface (12e) side of the placement unit (12), and configured to guide a column (22) supporting the probe (30), movable in the movement direction. A guiding unit one end (14c) and a guiding unit other end (14d) of the guiding unit (14) in the movement direction extend out of a placement unit one end (12c) and a placement unit other end (12d) of the placement unit (12) in the movement direction.