Electrical apparatus for reading and sorting code bearing elements

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING AND CONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT OF ARTICLES FROM ONE LOCATION TO ANOTHER COMPRISING: (A) A CONVEYOR FOR MOVING ARTICLES HAVING A PLURALITY OF DIVERTER STATIONS AND AT LEAST ONE SECONDARY ROUTE CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO BE ENGAGED BY SAID CONVEYOR AT EACH OF SAID DIVERTER STATIONS; (B) CODE BEARING ELEMENTS ATTACHED TO EACH ARTICLE TO BE DETECTED AND MOVED BY SAID CONVEYOR, SAID CODE BEARING ELEMENTS ARRANGED IN COLUMNS AND ROWS AND HAVING AT LEAST ONE CODE BEARING ELEMENT IN EACH COLUMN; (C) CODE READER MEANS LOCATED IN AT LEAST THE FIRST OF SAID PLURALITY OF DIVERTER STATIONS ENCOUNTERED FOR DETECTING THE CODE RETAINED BY SAID CODE BEARING ELEMENTS, SAID CODE READER MEANS BEING CONSTRUCTED TO SIMULTANEOUSLY DETECT ALL CODE BEARING ELEMENTS ARRANGED IN A COLUMN; (D) SWITCHING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID CODE READER MEANS HAVING AN INPUT AND A FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT, THE INPUT AND ONE OUTPUT BEING ALTERNATELY CONNECTED AFTER A PREDETERMINED TIME DELAY; (E) FIRST BISTABLE CODE STORAGE MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE FIRST OUTPUT OF SAID SWITCHING MEANS FOR TEMPORARY STORAGE OF SAID CODE, SAID CODE STORAGE MEANS HAVING FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUTS, ONE OF WHICH IS ENERGIZED TO PRODUCE AN OUTPUT SIGNAL; (F) SECOND BISTABLE CODE STORAGE MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE SECOND OUTPUT OF SAID SWITCHING MEANS FOR TEMPORARY STORAGE OF SAID CODE, SAID CODE STORAGE MEANS HAVING FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUTS, ONE OF WHICH IS ENERGIZED TO PRODUCE AN OUTPUT SIGNAL; (G) CODE TRANSLATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID OUTPUT SIGNALS FROM SAID FIRST AND SECOND CODE STORAGE MEANS FOR TRANSLATING SAID OUTPUT SIGNALS REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID CODE DETECTED BY SAID CODE READER MEANS INTO A PLURALITY OF PREDETERMINED DISCRETE SIGNALS, SAID TRANSLATING MEANS RESPONDING TO PRODUCE SAID DISCRETE SIGNALS UPON ALL OF SAID CODE BEARING ELEMENTS BEING DETECTED; (H) AND A PLURALITY OF DIVERTER MEANS EACH ENERGIZED BY A DISCRETE SIGNAL FROM SAID CODE TRANSLATING MEANS FOR DIVERTING ARTICLES ONTO SAID CONVEYOR SECONDARY ROUTES, SAID DIVERTER MEANS LOCATED AT SAID DIVERTER STATIONS.