Velocity control system for following irregular patterns

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY POSITIONING A TOOL OVER A WORKPIECE HAVING AN IRREGULAR PATTERN COMPRISING A TOOL POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID WORKPIECE, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID WORKPIECE RELATIVE TO SAID TOOL, A PATTERN FOLLOWER POSITIONED UPSTREAM OF SAID TOOL FOR TRACKING SAID WORKPIECE PATTERN, TAPE MEANS MEANS FOR MOVING SAID TAPE MEANS AT A SPEED PROPORTIONAL TO THE SPEED OF MOVEMENT OF SAID WORKPIECE RELATIVE TO SAID TOOL, TRACING MEANS POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID TAPE MEANS FOR RECORDING UPON SAID TAPE MEANS, MEANS DIRECTLY CONNECTING SAID TRACING MEANS TO SAID PATTERN FOLLOWER WHEREBY A DUPLICATE OF SAID WORKPIECE PATTERN IS RECORDED UPON SAID TAPE MEANS, A TRACE FOLLOWER POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID TAPE MEANS DOWNSTREAM OF SAID TRACING MEANS FOR TRACKING SAID DUPLICATE WORKPIEE PATTERN AS SAID TAPE IS MOVED, SAID TRACE FOLLOWER BEING A DISTANCE FROM SAID TRACING MEANS EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SAID PATTERN FOLLOWER AND SAID TOOL, AND MEANS CONNECTING SAID TRACE FOLLOWER TO SAID TOOL WHEREBY SAID TOOL IS CONTINUOUSLY OVER SAID PATTERN IN RESPONSE TO THE TRACKING OF SAID DUPLICATE PATTERN BY SAID TRACE FOLLOWER.