Tunnel diode converter system

Claim 1

IN A CONVERTER SYSTEM, A TUNABLE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK, MEANS FOR APPLYING A BAND OF RADIO-FREQUENCY SIGNALS TO THE NETWORK WITHIN THE TUNING RANGE THEREOF, A LOCAL OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT TUNABLE SYNCHRONOUSLY WITH THE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK TO LOCAL OSCILLATOR FREQUENCIES DIFFERING BY A FIXED INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY FROM THE FREQUENCY TO WHICH THE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK IS TUNED, A MIXER ELEMENT CONNECTED TO A POINT RELATIVELY LOOSELY COUPLED TO THE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK AND RELATIVELY TIGHTLY COUPLED TO THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT AND SERVING ALSO AS A NEGATIVE-RESISTANCE ELEMENT OF THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT TO INSURE OSCILLATION THROUGH THE MIXER ELEMENT AT THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT FREQUENCY WITH THE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK AT A FREQUENCY AT OR NEAR THE SAID LOCAL OSCILLATOR FREQUENCY AND ACTING AS A REACTIVE ATTENUATOR THAT ISOLATES RESISTIVE EFFECTS OF THE SIGNAL-APPLYING MEANS FROM THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT, AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE PRESENCE OF REACTIVE EFFECTS OF THE SIGNAL-APPLYING MEANS DURING MIS-MATCHING OF THE SAME TO THE RADIOFREQUENCY NETWORK FROM RESONATING WITH THE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK AT A FREQUENCY AT OR NEAR THE SAID LOCAL OSCILLATOR FREQUENCY AND THEREBY ALTERING THE OSCILLATING FREQUENCY OF THE OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT COMPRISING AN AUXILIARY NEUTRALIZING CIRCUIT CONNECTED BETWEEN THE APPLYING MEANS AND THE SAID POINT OF LOOSELY AND TIGHTLY COUPLED CONNECTION OF THE MIXER ELEMENT TO FEEDBACK FROM THE MIXER ELEMENT TO THE APPLYING MEANS A CURRENT SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO BUT OUT-OF-PHASE WITH THE CURRENT PASSING THROUGH THE RADIO-FREQUENCY NETWORK BETWEEN THE MIXER ELEMENT AND THE SIGNAL-APPLYING MEANS AT THE OSCILLATOR FREQUENCY.