Indicia wheel display apparatus having magnetic clutching to drive shaft

Claim 1

A DISPALY APPARATUS COMPRISING: A SINGLE DRIVE MEANS; A PLURALITY OF DISPLAY MEANS MOVABLE THROUGH A PLURALITY OF PREDETERMINED STOP POSITIONS; A PLURALITY OF PERMANENT MAGNET COUPLING MEANS HAVING A PHASE-SYNCHRONOUS, SELF-LIMITING, TORQUE-TRANSFER CHARACTERISTIC FOR COUPLING SAID DISPLAY MEANS TO SAID DRIVE MEANS, THEREBY PRODUCING MOVEMENT OF EACH DISPLAY MEANS THROUGH SAID STOP POSITIONS, SAID TORQUE-TRANSFER CHARACTERISTIC BEING A FUNCTION OF THE PERMANENT MAGNETIC ATTRACTION BETWEEN MEMBERS OF SAID COUPLING MEANS; AND MEANS INCLUDING ANALOG COMPARING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO APPLIED DATA SIGNALS FOR ARRESTING THE MOTION OF SAID DISPLAY MEANS AT SELECTED ONES OF SAID STOP POSITIONS, SAID COUPLING MEANS BEING RELEASABLE TO PERMIT CONTINUED MOVEMENT OF SAID DRIVE MEANS WHEN MOTIONS OF SAID DISPLAY MEANS ARE ARRESTED.