Device for making a permanent record of the nature and occurrence of an event

Claim 1

AN EVENT RECORDER COMPRISING A FIRST SET OF CONDUCTORS ARRANGED IN ROWS, A SECOND SET OF CONDUCTORS ARRANGED IN COLUMNS, SAID SECOND CONDUCTORS INTERSECTING SAID FIRST CONDUCTORS TO FORM A MATRIX, IMPEDANCE BRANCHES CONNECTING SAID FIRST CONDUCTORS TO SAID SECOND CONDUCTORS AT THE INTERSECTIONS THEREOF, SAID IMPEDANCE BRANCHES HAVING TWO DISTINCT STATES AND ADAPTED TO PERMANENTLY ASSUME ONE OF SAID STATES IN RESPONSE TO A VOLTAGE ABOVE A PREDETERMINED MAGNITUDE, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE OCCURRENCE OF AN EVENT FOR SELECTIVELY APPLYING A VOLTAGE TO ONE OF SAID FIRST CONDUCTORS DEPENDING UPON THE NATURE OF THE EVENT, AND TIME RESPONSIVE DISTRIBUTOR MEANS FOR APPLYING A VOLTAGE TO AT LEAST ONE OF SAID SECOND CONDUCTORS, THE SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION OF SAID VOLTAGES TO ANY OF SAID IMPEDANCE BRANCHES CAUSING SAID BRANCH TO PERMANENTLY CHANGE ITS STATE, THE ROW IN WHICH THE ALTERED IMPEDANCE BRANCHES ARE LOCATED INDICATING THE NATURE OF THE EVENT, AND LOCATION OF THE ALTERED IMPEDANCES IN THAT ROW INDICATING THE TIME OF OCCURRENCE OF THE EVENT.