Patent 7769131 was granted and assigned to INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL AND NUCLEAR SCIENCES LIMITED on August, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method of estimating the strength of a wooden support wherein gamma rays (4) are transmitted and detected parallel to a neutral axis (5) through a cross section of the support. It also includes a method of locating regions of unsound wood in a wooden support using detection of transmitted gamma rays (4), as well as apparatus suitable for conducting both methods.