A probe 8 comprises a housing 10 and a member 20 movable with respect to the housing onto which a stylus 12 may be mounted such that movement of the stylus results in movement of the member and a primary transducer 50, 52 for measuring movement of the member relative to the housing. The member may be located in a precisely defined rest position 22, 24 with respect to the housing, putting the probe in a mechanical datum position. For a combined transducer probe, this enables the primary transducer 52, 54 to be locked while enabling use of a secondary transducer 70. The primary transducer outputs can be datumed while in this mechanical datum position. Drive 40, 50, 60 or bias 26 means in one axis secure the member in its rest position in all axes.
A probe head includes a housing and a probe element. The probe element has a longitudinal axis and stop faces and is able to shift from a rest position along the longitudinal axis into a stop position relative to the housing. The probe head further includes counter-support faces, which are arranged in a stationary manner relative to the housing. For limiting the path of the probe element, in a stop position, the stop faces of the probe element contact the counter-support faces at stop points. In the rest position, a geometric plane may be spanned orthogonally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the probe element. The stop points are arranged such that in the stop position, the longitudinal axis intersects the geometric plane at an oblique angle.
A coordinate measuring device having a probe comprising a stylus (14) with a sensing member (18) for contacting the object (15) to be measured, a support unit (13) to which the stylus (14) is connected through elastic means (19), and magnet means (46) for damping vibrations of the stylus (14) by generating eddy currents in conductive material. The elastic means (19) comprise at least one leaf spring (41) made of conductive material, and said magnet means (46) generate eddy currents in said leaf spring (41).
