Joy stick digital direction and rate control unit

Claim 1

A joy stick control unit comprising: a housing; a joy stick; mounting means positioning the joy stick in the housing for universal angular movement of the joy stick; commutator means having electrically conductive and electrically non-conductive segments slidably mounted in the housing and mechanically coupled to the joy stick for rectilinear movement in correspondence with angular movement of the joy stick, said commutator means comprising first and second commutator sliders mounted in said housing for rectilinear movement along paths at right angles to one another; electronic circuit means mounted in the housing including circuitry generating a plurality of pulse trains of different frequencies; brush means connected to said electronic circuitry and positioned in sliding contact with the conductive segments of said commutator means; and output terminal means connected to said electronic circuit means for producing digital output signals in the form of pulses at rates indicative of the relative position of said commutator means and said brush means, said electrically conductive segments of said commutator means selectively engaging said brush means to cause different pulse frequencies selectively to be introduced to said output terminal means.