Typing pacer

Claim 1

A typing pacer comprising: a page having a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal lines of characters printed thereon, eacH of said lines having an equal number of characters; said page having a vertical line thereon, said line dividing each of said printed lines into two equal character segments; a pacer unit having a cabinet; said cabinet having a page support portion and a panel portion thereon; said support portion including an inclined vertical surface for said page with a lower horizontal ledge at the base thereof; said panel portion including a region to the right of said support portion having a column of indicator lights mounted thereon and a region below said ledge having a plurality of switches mounted thereon; said column of indicator lights including a mid-line light, an end-line light positioned below said mid-line light, and a stop light positioned below said end-line light; said plurality of switches including a momentary start switch, a multiple position rate switch having a dial calibrated in words-per-minute, and a multiple position duration switch having a dial calibrated in minutes; a solid state rate timer circuit within said cabinet, and having a first output connected to said mid-line light and a second output connected to said end-line light, said rate timer circuit having circuit means responsive to actuation of said start switch so as to actuate said rate timer circuit; said rate timer circuit including a multivibrator having two alternative outputs and two equal time constant timing circuits each selectively variable in accordance with said rate switch setting to periodically invert said multivibrator at a rate per minute equal to the setting of said rate dial divided by the average number of words per half line on said printed page; a pair of differentiator circuits, each connecting one each of said multivibrator outputs to a different one of said rate timer circuit outputs to momentarily energize said mid and endline lights in response to the inversions of said multivibrator so as to establish a typing pacer rhythm by sequentially illuminating the mid-line light and the end-line light once per character line; a solid state duration timer circuit within said cabinet having an output connected to said stop light, and a delay circuit having an output connected to said duration timer output, said delay circuit being energized in response to the actuation of said start switch, the time constant of said delay circuit being selectively variable in accordance with the settings of said duration switch; circuit means within said cabinet for controlling said rate timer circuit in response to said duration timer; and a battery for supplying power to said lights and circuits.