Magnetically encoded device

Claim 1

A METHOD OF ENCODING INFORMATION ON A MAGNETIC MEMBER HAVING A MAGNETIC COATING INCLUDING THE STEPS OF: (A) POSITIONING SAID MAGNETIC MEMBER BETWEEN THE POLE FACES OF A WRITING HEAD FOR RELATIVE MOVEMENT THEREWITH; (B) ENERGIZING SAID WRITING HEAD FOR WRITING A FIRST SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTUM INTO SAID MAGNETIC COATING IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE DIRECTION OF SAID RELATIVE MOVEMENT SUCH THAT ONLY ONE OF TWO POSSIBE POLES OF SAID SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTUM APPEARS AT THE SURFACE OF SAID MAGNETIC COATING; (C) SUCCESSIVELY INDEXING SAID MAGNETIC MEMBER RELATIVE TO SAID WRITING HEAD FOR WRITING A PLURALITY OF SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTUM INTO SAID MAGNETIC COATING IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTUM SUCH THAT ONLY SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTA, HAVING AN OPPOSITE ORIENTATION FROM A NEXT PRECEDING OR NEXT SUCCEEDING SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTUM LIE ADJACENT TO AND TOUCH NEXT PRECEDING OR SUCCEEDING SHORT BAR MAGNETIC QUANTUM WHEREBY A CONTINUOUS MAGNETIC POLE PATTERN APPEARS AT THE SURFACE OF SAID MAGNETIC COATING, SAID PATTERN EXTENDING IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID RELATIVELY MOVEMENT, A SUFFICIENT SUCCESSIVE NUMBER OF SIMILARLY ORIENTED POLES FORMING AN INFORMATION BLOCK.