Richard L Hedrick

US Patent:

7382448, Jun 3, 2008

Filed:

Mar 16, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/082473

Inventors:

Richard L. Hedrick - San Pedro CA, US
Andre Paquette - Carp, CA

Assignee:

Celestron Acquisition, LLC - Torrance CA

International Classification:

G01B 11/26

US Classification:

35613901, 356399, 35613903, 35613904

Abstract:

A method and apparatus is disclosed for aligning an optical instrument with respect to a celestial coordinate system, the optical instrument having a field of view and an optical instrument coordinate system, the celestial coordinate system having a plurality of objects each having celestial coordinates. The method includes the steps of receiving a plurality of captured optical instrument positions in the optical instrument coordinate system along with a plurality of associated capture times; calculating, for each associated capture time in the plurality of associated capture times, coordinates in the optical instrument coordinate system for the plurality of objects to create a plurality of calculated object positions for each associated capture time; and, determining, for each associated capture time, a match for each captured optical instrument position in the plurality of captured optical instrument positions with the plurality of calculated object positions to create a list of actual alignment objects.

US Patent:

6467738, Oct 22, 2002

Filed:

Aug 18, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/640743

Inventors:

Richard L. Hedrick - San Pedro CA
Manishi Gupta - Los Alamitos CA
Jospeh R. Garrison - Garden Grove CA

Assignee:

Celestron International - Torrance CA

International Classification:

F16M 1120

US Classification:

248164, 2481887, 2481886, 2481771, 359430

Abstract:

A tripod/telescope assembly including a tripod structure and optical tube-fork-base structure removably connected to one another by a conical central opening formed in an upper structure of the tripod and a complementary conical structure extending from a lower portion of the optical tube-fork-base. The tripod has three equally spaced legs pivotally extending downward from the upper structure of the tripod head. The tripod structure and optical tube-fork-base structure are disassembled and reassembled by a hand knob that has a central threaded fastening shaft extending through the complementary conical structures. The hand knob and complementary conical structures establish a stable, rotatable platform and allow the tube-fork-base structure of the telescope to be quickly separable from the tripod structure for transportation purposes.