Electrical apparatus

Claim 1

AN ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER COMPRISING, A PLURALITY OF BIDIRECTIONAL COUNTING MEANS CONNECTED IN SERIES TO FORM INCREASING DECADE STEPS WHEREBY A COMPLETION OF A COUNT IN EITHER DIRECTION IN ONE OF SAID COUNTING MEANS IS EFFECTIVE TO TRANSFER A COUNT SIGNAL TO A SUCCEEDING ADJACENT ONE OF SAID COUNTING MEANS, SAID COUNTING MEANS EACH INCLUDING SELECTIVELY RESPONSIVE CONTROL MEANS OPERATIVE TO DETERMINE THE DIRECTION OF A COUNT IN THE RESPECTIVE ONES OF SAID COUNTING MEANS, REFERENCE SIGNAL SUPPLY MEANS CONTROLLED BY SAID COUNTING MEANS AND OPERATIVE TO SUPPLY A PLURALITY OF WEIGHTED STEPS IN THE MAGNITUDE OF A REFERENCE SIGNAL IN RESPONSE TO A COUNT IN A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID COUNTING MEANS, SIGNAL COMPARING MEANS OPERATIVE TO COMPARE THE REFERENCE, SIGNAL WITH AN UNKNOWN SIGNAL TO BE DIGITIZED TO PROVIDE A DIFFERENCE SIGNAL HAVING A MAGNITUDE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ERROR BETWEEN SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL AND SAID UNKNOWN SIGNAL AND A POLARITY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIRECTION OF SAID ERROR, POLARITY DISCRIMINATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID DIFFERENCE SIGNAL TO PROVIDE A CONTROL SIGNAL INDICATIVE OF SAID POLARITY, MEANS CONNECTING SAID CONTROL SIGNAL TO ALL OF SAID CONTROL MEANS TO DETERMINE THE DIRECTION OF THE COUNT IN SAID COUNTING MEANS, OSCILLATOR MEANS CONNECTED TO BE THE FIRST ONE OF SAID COUNTING MEANS TO PROVIDE SIGNALS TO BE COUNTED THEREBY, AND SIGNAL GATE MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A PLURALITY OF MAGNITUDES OF SAID DIFFERENCE SIGNAL AND OPERATIVELY TO SELECTIVELY APPLY SAID SIGNALS FROM SAID OSCILLATOR MEANS TO ONES OF SAID COUNTING MEANS OTHER THAN SAID FIRST ONE IN RESPONSE TO A CORRESPONDING MAGNITUDE OF SAID DIFFERENCE SIGNAL.