Device for converting an analogue datum into a digital datum

Claim 1

AN ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A MOVABLY MOUNTED CODE-BEARING MEMBER, THE CODE COMPRISING A SERIES OF MARKS EXTENDING FROM A FIRST MARK AND A UNIQUE MARK, A COMPARATOR TO WHICH AN ANALOG INPUT SIGNAL IS APPLIED, FEED-BACK MEANS SUPPLYING AN ANALOG FEED-BACK SIGNAL TO THE COMPARATOR IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE POSITION OF THE MEMBER, SCANNER MEANS WHICH GENERATES A DIGITAL SIGNAL CORRESPONDING TO THE CODE AND A SIGNAL CORRESPONDING TO THE UNIQUE MARK, A GATE TO WHICH THE DIGITAL SIGNAL IS APPLIED, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE UNIQUE MARK SIGNAL FOR OPENING THE GATE EVERY TIME SAID FIRST MARK PASSES THE SCANNER, AND A COUNTER WHICH IS RESET BY SAID MEANS EVERY TIME SAID FIRST MARK PASSES THE SCANNER AND TO WHICH THE DIGITAL SIGNAL PASSING THROUGH THE GATE IS APPLIED, THE GATE BEING CLOSED BY THE COMPARATOR WHEN THE COMPARATOR DETECTS COINCIDENCE BETWEEN THE ANALOG SIGNALS.