Electric pulse counter apparatus

Claim 2

Electrical pulse counter apparatus comprising: counter means, initially containing zero, for accepting a number in the form of a sequence of digits with the most significant digit first and with the units digit last, each nonzero digit loaded into said counter means by a series of first pulses equaling 10 minus the digit value, the digit zero requiring no pulses; distributor means for loading said counter means including for each digit a normally closed distributor gate leading into said counter means, the distributor gate utlilized to load the last digit being the units gate; means for generating a string of second pulses; means for transmitting said second pulses to said counter means through said distributor means units gate; said counter means operable to decrement from said number to zero in response to receiving said second pulses, and operable further to emit a signal when the number being decremented reaches zero; said distributor means includes a distributor counter circuit for counting the number of digits received by the counter apparatus, said distributor counter circuit including further an ''''AND'''' gate for each distributor gate, said distributor counter circuit operable to emit a plurality of combinations of signals to said ''''AND'''' gates, each ''''AND'''' gate responding to one of said combinations of signals to open the associated distributor gate to pass said series of first pulses into said counter means, said distributor counter circuit upon receiving a signal for each digit of said number being incremented thereby emitting the combination of signals corresponding to the current digit count, actuating the appropriate ''''AND'''' gate and thereby opening the associated distributor gate.

Claim 3

Electric pulse counter apparatus as defined in claim 1, and including means comprising a plurality of bisTable multivibrators arranged to receive a digit and to emit a sequence of pulses the number of which is one greater than the said series of first pulses required for the digit received, said emitted pulses transmitted to said distributor means, said distributor means operable to receive said augmented pulse series, using the additional pulse to increment said distributor counter circuit.

Claim 4

Electric pulse counter apparatus as defined in claim 1, and wherein said pulse generating means for said second pulses comprises an astable multivibrator actuated in response to a signal upon the loading of the first digit of said number into said counter means, said multivibrator operable to cease generating said second pulses in response to said signal from said counter means emitted therefrom when the number is decremented to 0.

Claim 5

An electric pulse counting means comprising: counter means having a plurality of digit display means operable by application of electric pulses, said display means being arranged to display in order digits of a preset number from the most significant digit to the least significant digit, each of said display means initially displaying the digit 0; a pulse generating means; a distributor having a normally nonconductive gate connected between said pulse generating means and each of said display means; input means connected to said pulse generating means for controlling said pulse generating means to cause it to apply to said gates a sequence of groups of pulses, each group corresponding to a digit of a desired number to be preset on said display means, said sequence being applied in the order from the most significant digit to the least significant digit thereof, the number of pulses for each of said digits being the initial digit minus the desired digit modulo of the base number system; distributor control means connected between said pulse generating means and said distributor to apply to said distributor a distributor-control signal in response to the generation of each of said groups of pulses, said distributor in response to the application of each of said distributor-control signals operating to make conductive one of said gates, the sequence in which said gates are made conductive one at a time during application of said groups of pulses for each of said desired numbers being in the order from that one connected to said display means for displaying the most significant digit to that one connected to said display means for displaying the least significant digit of the number being preset on said counter means, the number of said gates becoming conductive sequentially for a desired number to be preset being equal to the number of said groups of pulses for said desired number; and each of said digit display means while the respective one of said gates is conductive being operated decrementally in response to the application of a respective one of said groups of pulses.

Claim 6

An electric pulse counting means comprising: counter means having a plurality of digit display means operable by application of electric pulses, said display means being arranged to display in order digits of a preset number from the most significant digit to the least significant digit, each of said display means initially displaying the digit 0; a pulse generating means; a distributor having a normally nonconductive gate connected between said pulse generating means and each of said display means; input means connected to said pulse generating means for controlling said pulse generating means to cause it to apply to said gates a sequence of groups of pulses, each group corresponding to a digit of a desired number to be preset on said display means, said sequence being applied in the order from the most significant digit to the least significant digit thereof, the number of pulses for each of said digits being the initial digit minus the desired digit modulo of the base number system; distributor control means connected between said pulse generating means and said distributor to apply to said distributor a distributor-control signal in response to the generation of each of said groups of pulses, said distributor in response to the application of each of said distributor-control signals operating to make conductive one of said gates, the sequence in which said gates are made conductive one at a time during application of said groups of pulses for each of said desired numbers being in the order from that one connected to said display means for displaying the most significant digit to that one connected to said display means for displaying the least significant digit of the number being preset on said counter means, the number of said gates becoming conductive sequentially for a desired number to be preset being equal to the number of said groups of pulses for said desired number; and each of said digit display means while the respective one of said gates is conductive being operated decrementally in response to the application of a respective one of said groups of pulses.

Claim 7

An electric pulse counting means as claimed in claim 4 including decremental pulse means for decrementing said counter means, means responsive to the termination of the generation of said groups of pulses that is used for presetting said desired number to connect said decremental pulse means to said gates of said distributor, whereby pulses generated by said decremental pulse means in applied through that one of said gates that has been made conductive for presetting the least significant digit in said counting means, said counter having a borrowing circuit for decrementing said display means in order from that one used to display the least significant digit of said desired number to that one used to display the most significant digit of any number to be preset in said counter means; and disabling means connected to said pulse generating means and to said borrowing circuit, said disabling means operating in response to generation of pulses by said pulse generating means for presetting said desired number to inhibit the operation of said borrowing circuit.