Freight car identification system

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR DATA COMMUNICATION FROM A MOVING OBJECT TO A FIXED LOCATION COMPRISING: (A) MEANS ON SAID MOVING OBJECT FOR PRESENTING A PREDETERMINED PATTERN, (B) READING MEANS AT SAID FIXED LOCATION FOR READING SAID PREDETERMINED PATTERN AND FOR DERIVING A START SIGNAL, DATA NUMBERS, AND AN ORDER SIGNAL FROM SAID PREDETERMINED PATTERN, (C) STORAGE MEANS HAVING A NUMBER OF STORAGE POSITIONS EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF DATA NUMBERS TO BE READ BY SAID READING MEANS, (D) CONTROL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID START SIGNAL FOR CAUSING EACH DATA NUMBER READ TO BE STORED IN THE FIRST STORAGE POSITION OF SAID STORAGE MEANS, (E) SHIFT MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE LAST READ DATA NUMBER FOR SHIFTING EACH DATA NUMBER TO THE SUCCEEDING POSITION OF SAID STORAGE MEANS, (F) FIRST COUNTER MEANS RESPONSIVE TO EACH SHIFT TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF SHIFTS AND TO PRODUCE A FINISHSHIFT SIGNAL WHEN THE FIRST DATA NUMBER READ HAS BEEN SHIFTED TO THE LAST POSITION OF SAID STORAGE MEANS, (G) SAID SHIFT MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID FINISH SHIFT SIGNAL TO STOP SHIFTING SAID DATA NUMBERS, (H) REVERSE SHIFT MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID ORDER SIGNAL WHEN SAID DATA NUMBERS HAVE BEEN READ INTO SAID STORAGE MEANS IN A REVERSE ORDER FOR SHIFTING THE DATA NUMBER IN THE LAST POSITION TO THE FIRST POSITION AND THE DATA NUMBERS IN THE OTHER POSITIONS TO THE NEXT SUCCEEDING POSITIONS, (I) REVERSE SHIFT COUNTER MEANS RESPONSIVE TO EACH REVERSE SHIFT TO COUNT EACH REVERSE SHIFT AND TO PRODUCE A REVERSE SHIFT FINISH SIGNAL WHEN SAID COUNTER HAS COUNTED TO N-1 WHERE N EQUALS THE NUMBER OF POSITIONS IN SAID STORAGE MEANS, (J) READ-OUT MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID REVERSE SHIFT FINISH SIGNAL TO CAUSE THE DATA NUMBER IN THE LAST POSITION OF SAID STORAGE MEANS TO BE READ OUT, (K) SAID REVERSE SHIFT MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE READOUT OF THE DATA NUMBER IN THE LAST POSITION OF SAID STORAGE MEANS FOR CAUSING THE DATA NUMBER IN THE LAST POSITION TO BE SHIFTED TO THE FIRST POSITION AND THE OTHER DATE NUMBERS TO BE SHIFTED TO THE NEXT SUCCEEDING POSITIONS OF SAID STORAGE MEANS, (L) AND READ-OUT COUNTER MEANS RESPONSIVE TO EACH REVERSE SHIFT TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF REVERSE SHIFTS AND TO CAUSE THE SAID READ-OUT MEANS TO STOP READOUT WHEN THE LAST DATA NUMBER HAS BEEN READ OUT.