Programmed motion control system

Claim 1

IN A SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING PRECISELY THE LENGTHS AND VELOCITIES OF SUCCESSIVE INCREMENTS OF MOVEMENT WHILE KEEPING THE AGGREGATE OF MOVEMENT EQUAL TO THE SUM OF THE INCREMENTAL LENGTHS, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A MOVABLE MEMBER, A ROTATING MAIN SHAFT, A MULTI-RATIO TRANSMISSION HAVING AN INPUT SHAFT AND AN OUTPUT SHAFT WITH THE LATTER CONNECTED TO TRANSLATE SAID MEMBER, SAID TRANSMISSION INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF POSITIVE CLUTCH ELEMENTS SHIFTABLE BETWEEN TWO POSITIONS IN WHICH THEY ARE RESPECTIVELY HELD STATIONARY OR CONNECTED WITH SAID INPUT SHAFT TO ESTABLISH DIFFERENT DRIVE RATIOS, SAID CLUTCH ELEMENTS BEING SHIFTABLE ONLY WHEN SAID INPUT SHAFT IS SUBSTANTIALLY IN A PREDETERMINED ANGULAR POSITION, A SLOWDOWN UNIT NORMALLY ESTABLISHING A POSITIVE DRIVE BETWEEN SAID MAIN SHAFT AND SAID INPUT SHAFT, SAID SLOWDOWN UNIT HAVING SELECTIVELY ACTUATABLE CYCLE MEANS FOR SMOOTHLY REDUCING THE SPEED OF SAID INPUT SHAFT SO THAT IT IS SUBSTANTIALLY STATIONARY WHEN IN SAID PREDETERMINED ANGULAR POSITION AND THEN INCREASING THE SPEED OF SAID INPUT SHAFT BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL VALUE WITH THE RESULTING LOSS OF PREDETERMINED ANGLE OF ROTATION OF SAID INPUT SHAFT RELATIVE TO SAID MAIN SHAFT, AN ELONGATED RECORD HAVING SUCCESSIVE SETS OF INDICIA SPACED THEREALONG AND WITH EACH SET REPRESENTING A DESIRED ONE OF THE TRANSMISSION DRIVE RATIOS, A READER AND MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING SAID RECORD LENGTHWISE THROUGH THE READER A PREDETERMINED UNIT DISTANCE FOR EACH REVOLUTION OF SAID MAIN SHAFT, SAID READER HAVING MEANS FOR PRODUCING A SET OF SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO EACH SET OF INDICIA PASSING THERETHROUGH, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO EACH SET