Printed circuit layout machine

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATION OF AN ACCURATE ARRAY OF HOLES AND GROOVES IN A WORK SHEET FROM AN INFORMAL DESIGN SKETCH ONLY ROUGHLY APPROXIMATING THE DESIRED ACCURACY OF THE ARRAY TO BE TRANSFERRED TO SAID WORKSHEET, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A REFERENCE PLATE HAVING A PRECISION MACHINED UNIVERSAL INDEXING PATTERN THEREON, MEANS FOR SECURING SAID INFORMAL DESIGN SKETCH IN INTIMATE CONTACT WITH SAID PRECISION PATTERN, MEANS FOR FASTENING SAID WORKSHEET IN FIXED POSITION RELATIVE TO THE SECURED INFORMAL DESIGN SKETCH, TOOL MEANS MOVABLE OVER SAID WORKSHEET AND OPERATIVE TO FORM SAID ACCURATE ARRAY THEREIN, STYLUS MEANS MOVABLE OVER SAID INDEXING PATTERN AND SAID DESIGN SKETCH, MEANS FOR GUIDING THE MOVEMENT OF SAID TOOL MEANS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MOVEMENT OF SAID STYLUS MEANS SO THAT SAID TOOL MEANS IS ADAPTED TO TRACE OUT A PATTERN ON SAID WORKSHEET CORRESPONDING TO THE PATTERN TRACED BY SAID STYLUS MEANS, AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF SAID TOOL MEANS TO FORM A DESIRED PORTION OF SAID ARRAY ONLY WHEN SAID STYLUS MEANS IS IN MATING ASSOCIATION WITH A POINT OF SAID INDEXING PATTERN OF SAID REFERENCE PLATE, SO THAT SAID INFORMAL DESIGN SKETCH IS SOLELY A ROUGH GUIDE FOR THE TRANSFER OF AN ACCURATELY LOCATED ARRAY OF HOLES TO SAID WORKSHEET WHICH CORRESPOND WITH THE PRECISION MACHINED INDEXING PATTERN OF SAID REFERENCE PLATE; WHEREIN SAID INDEXING PATTERN COMPRISES A PLURALITY OF EQUI-SPACED APERTURES ARRANGED IN SAID PLATE IN A PRECISE GRID, SAID INFORMAL DESIGN SKETCH BEING SECURED AS AN OVERLAY ON SAID GRID, SAID STYLUS MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO MATE SEPARATELY WITH EACH OF SAID APERTURES IN SAID GRID BY CONTROLLED PERFORATION OF SAID DESIGN SKETCH ONLY WHEN IN ALIGNMENT WITH AN APERTURE ADJACENT A DESIRED HOLE LOCATION ON SAID DESIGN SKETCH.