Control for lamp bank displays

Claim 1

A CONTROL APPARATUS FOR LAMP BANK DISPLAYS COMPRISING: A SOURCE OF POWER; A LAMP BANK INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF LAMPS WIRED IN LAMP GROUPS ADAPTED TO BE SELECTIVELY ACTIVATED TO PRODUCE A DESIRED LIGHTED DISPLAY; GATE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER MEANS, SAID LAMP GROUPS AND SAID GATE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER MEANS BEING WIRED IN SERIES ACROSS SAID SOURCE OF POWER, SAID GATE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER MEANS INCLUDING GATE CONNECTIONS FOR RECEPTION OF AN ACTIVATED SIGNAL; GATE SIGNAL GENERATOR MEANS; SELECTOR MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE GATE CONNECTIONS OF SAID GATE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER MEANS AND TO SAID GATE SIGNAL GENERATOR MEANS FOR COMPLETING SELECTED CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SAID GATE SIGNAL GENERATOR MEANS AND SAID GATE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER MEANS TO THEREBY ESTABLISH DESIRED CONNECTIONS ACROSS SAID POWER SOURCE THROUGH SAID LAMP GROUPS AND GATE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER MEANS; AND A DIODE MATRIX COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL BLOCKING DIODES WIRED INDIVIDUALLY IN SERIES BETWEEN SAID SELECTOR MEANS AND SAID LAMP GROUPS FOR PREVENTING THE COMPLETION OF UNDESIRED CIRCUITS THROUGH LAMP GROUPS UTILIZED IN MORE THAN ONE OF THE DESIRED LIGHTED DISPLAYS.