After lunch a walk around the Renishaw facility is mandatory and Robin (the tutor) took us to see this jet engine. Why a jet engine? The Renishaw company was founded by Sir David McMurtry and John Deer in 1973. They were both working for Rolls-Royce and at some time there was a need to measure fuel pipes on a prototype jet engine (in the picture). At that time, coordinate-measuring machine sensors featured a rigid stylus (probe), which required manual positioning on the surface and which yielded poor repeatability when measuring delicate components. To meet this need, McMurtry invented a touch-trigger probe device, which he then patented. The probe featured an elegant 'kinematic' location for a spring-loaded stylus, providing a highly repeatable seated position for the stylus combined with the compliance needed to measure such components. (from Wikipedia) Stylus is a touch probe attached to the end of an Equator or CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine).
