High speed measuring system

Claim 1

A MEASURING SYSTEM COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF AMPLIFIERS EACH HAVING AN INPUT CIRCUIT AND AN OUTPUT CIRCUIT, A PLURALITY OF CONDITION-RESPONSIVE DEVICES GREATER IN NUMBER THAN SAID NUMBER OF AMPLIFIERS, FIRST SWITCHING MEANS, FIRST SEQUENCING MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID FIRST SWITCHING MEANS IN SEQUENCE TO CONNECT ONE EACH OF A FIRST GROUP AND THEN ONE EACH OF SUCCESSIVE GROUPS OF SAID CONDITION-RESPONSIVE DEVICES TO ONE EACH OF SAID INPUT CIRCUITS OF SAID AMPLIFIERS, A MEASURING CIRCUIT, SECOND SWITCHING MEANS OPERABLE THROUGH A CYCLE TO CONNECT SAID MEASURING CIRCUIT FIRST TO ONE AND THEN TO THE REMAINDER OF SAID OUTPUT CIRCUITS OF SAID AMPLIFIERS, EACH OF SAID AMPLIFIERS HAVING FILTER MEANS WITH A RELATIVELY LONG TIME CONSTANT, SECOND SEQUENCING MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE SEQUENCE OF OPERATION OF SAID SECOND SWITCHING MEANS THROUGH ITS SAID CYCLE, DELAY MEANS OPERABLE FROM A SECOND STATE TO AN INTITIAL STATE AFTER EXPIRATION OF A PREDETERMINED DELAY TIME AT LEAST EQUAL TO SAID TIME CONSTANT OF SAID FILTER MEANS, AN ENERGIZING CIRCUIT FOR SAID DELAY MEANS, MEANS OPERABLE IN RESPONSE TO OPERATION OF SAID FIRST SWITCHING MEANS TO CONNECT SAID ENERGIZING CIRCUIT TO SAID DELAY MEANS TO OPERATE IT FROM ITS INITIAL STATE TO ITS SECOND STATE, MEANS OPERABLE IN RESPONSE TO THE ENERGIZATION OF SAID DELAY MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE CYCLING OF SAID SECOND SWITCHING MEANS UNTIL AFTER THE EXPIRATION OF SAID DELAY TIME OF SAID DELAY MEANS AND RETURN THEREOF TO ITS SAID INITIAL STATE, AN ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT OF SAID SECOND SWITCHING MEANS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF CIRCUIT COMPONENTS, EACH HAVING TWO STABLE STATES, ONE REPRESENTATIVE OF A ZERO AND THE REPRESENTATIVE OF A ONE IN THE BINARY SYSTEM AND EACH OPERABLE FROM ONE TO THE OTHER OF ITS STABLE STATES WHEN THE MAGNITUDE OF THE MEASURED VARIABLE IS GREATER OR LESS THAN A PREDETERMINED REFERENCE MAGNITUDE, MEANS FOR PRODUCING FROM SAID CIRCUIT COMPONENTS OUTPUTS SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID BINARY ZERO''S AND SAID BINARY ONE''S, REFERENCE MEANS FOR GENERATING SIGNALS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIGITS OF SELECTED BINARY NUMBERS, COMPARISON MEANS, AND THIRD SWITCHING MEANS FOR CONNECTING IN SEQUENCE TO SAID COMPARISON MEANS SAID PLURALITY OF CIRCUIT COMPONENTS AND SAID REFERENCE MEANS FOR PRODUCTION OF SIGNALS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ONE''S OF A SELECTED ONE OF SAID BINARY NUMBERS, SAID COMPARISON MEANS INCLUDING A SIGNAL-GENERATING DEVICE FOR DEVELOPING AN OUTPUT SIGNAL WHENEVER AN OUTPUT FROM SAID CIRCUIT COMPONENTS EXCEEDS THAT OF SAID REFERENCE MEANS.