Patent 7969579 was granted and assigned to Renishaw plc on June, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Rotary encoder apparatus is described that comprises one or more readheads and a radial scale. Each of the one or more readheads includes a light emitting portion for illuminating the radial scale and a light detecting portion for detecting interference fringes formed at a readhead analyzer plane. The readhead analyzer plane is tilted relative to the plane containing the radial scale. In a preferred embodiment, the readhead analyzer plane is tilted towards the center of rotation of the rotary encoder apparatus by the angle.