Remote-reading register with error detecting capability

Claim 2

A meter register of the type comprising at least two indicator shafts rotatably coupled to one another in a fixed ratio number of relative rotation greater than one, wherein the improvement comprises means for generating an electrical code representative of the angular position of each of said shafts to an approximate resolution of at least twice said ratio number, said means comprising: a six bit binary code angular position indicator rigidly attached to each of said shafts, said position indicators being optical gray code encoding discs having at least six rings of optical encoding modulations at different radial locations and providing an actual resolution of about one in 30 angular positions for each of said shafts, said shafts being mutually parallel and having their ends arranged in an arc on a backplate of said register; a single rotating scan disc comprising a series of radially spaced, angularly staggered, graded arc scan slots for scanning said encoding discs; and a series of elongated reading slots arranged in an arc configuration on said backplate, each one of said reading slots being along a line perpendicular to and intersecting one of said shafts.

Claim 3

The register defined in claim 1 and comprising: means for illuminating the face of said scan disc remote from said reading slots, and means for electrically sensing light from said scan slots, said encoding slots, and said reading slots when they are aligned with one another.

Claim 4

A meter register of the type comprising at least two indicator shafts rotatably coupled to one another in a fixed ratio number of relative rotation greater than one, first means for generating an electrical code representative of the angular position of each of said shafts to a resolution of at least twice said ratio number, and second means for generating an electrical code for identifying said register from among a plurality of such registers, wherein said first means comprises: a six bit gray code optical encoding disc rigidly attached to each of said shafts and having six concentric rings of optical encoding slots at different radial locations, a rotatable scan disc with central axis parallel to said shafts and comprising a series of radially spaced, angularly staggered, graded arc scan slots in one angular segment, a series of elongated shaft position reading slots arranged in an arc configuration, each one of said reading slots being along a line perpendicular to and intersecting one of said shafts, means for illuminating said scan slots from the side of said scan disc remote from said reading slots, and means for electrically sensing light from said illuminating means which passes through said scan slots, said encoding slots, and said reading slots when they are aligned with one another, and wherein said second means comprises; an additional identification reading slot, said slot being added to the arc configuration of said shaft position reading slots so that it may be also scanned by said scan disc, and a removable code plate fastened over said identification reading slot and provided with coding apertures for generating an identification code for said register.

Claim 5

A meter register of the type comprising at least two indicator shafts rotatably coupled to one another in a fixed ratio number of relative rotation greater than one, first means for generating an electrical code representative of the angular position of each of said shafts to a resolution of at least twice said ratio number, and second means for generating an electrical code for identifying said register from among a plurality of such registers, wherein said first means comprises: a six bit gray code optical encoding disc rigidly attached to each of said shafts and having six concentric rings of optical encoding slots at different radial locations, a rotatable scan disc with central axis parallel to said shafts and comprising a series of radially spaced, angularly staggered, graded arc scan slots in one angular segment, a series of elongated shaft position reading slots arranged in an arc configuration, each one of said reading slots being along a line perpendicular to and intersecting one of said shafts, means for illuminating said scan slots from the side of said scan disc remote from said reading slots, and means for electrically sensing light from said illuminating means which passes through said scan slots, said encoding slots, and said reading slots when they are aligned with one another, and wherein said second means comprises; an additional identification reading slot, said slot being added to the arc configuration of said shaft position reading slots so that it may be also scanned by said scan disc, and a removable code plate fastened over said identification reading slot and provided with coding apertures for generating an identification code for said register.