<Note>Fiber Length Measuring System with a Digitizer and a Microcomputer

Abstract

A fiber length measuring system was constructed and totally examined. The system is consisted of a projecting apparatus and a digitizer connected with a 8-bit microcomputer. They are supported by softwares listed in this paper. Their functions are briefly summarized as follows. Fiber lengths are recorded both on a printer and on a diskette by means of tracing fiber images which projected on the digitizer. The recorded lengths in a sample lot are then processed to a mean, minimum and maximum length, variance, standard deviation, and frequency distribution of the length at 0.3 mm intervals. These statistical values, including a mean of fiber lengths, in respective samples are automatically plotted against tree ages. In addition, the frequency distribution at every annual rings are printed in a three-dimensional manner. This system was effective and accurate enough (resolution ca. 0.2mm on a sample specimen) for measuring fiber length, and was able to be constructed at a reasonable price.