Method of and apparatus for determining the position of a movable member

DETAILED DESCRIPTION What is claimed is: 1.
A method of determining whether a movable member is correctly positioned from a location remote from the member comprising the steps of: recording the identity of and a desired position of the movable member at the remote location; coupling a position sensor to the movable member; connecting a passive position signal generator to the position sensor; configuring a movable member identification signal generator associated with and located in the vicinity of the movable member so that it may produce an encoded signal which uniquely identifies the movable member; supplying power to the passive position signal generator and the movable member identification signal generator whereby the position signal generator will produce an information bearing signal commensurate with movable member actual position and the movable member identification signal generator will produce an information bearing signal commensurate with the identity of the movable member; transmitting the position and identity information contained in the signals produced by the position signal generator and the movable member identification signal generator when power is supplied thereto to a remote location; receiving the transmitted information at the remote location; employing the transmitted identity information to determine the desired position of the movable member from the recorded information; and comparing the signals commensurate with the actual and desired positions of the movable member to ascertain if a position error exists.
2.
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of configuring includes: adjusting the movable member identification signal generator such that when energized it produces a signal which identifies the movable member.
3.
The method of claim 1 wherein the position sensor is a load cell and wherein the step of coupling includes: affixing the load cell to the movable member; and applying a bias to the load cell such that the load cell will provide an output signal at each limit of expected travel of the movable member