Photoelectric disc reader with alternate reading locations

Claim 1

A pulse initiator for producing pre-selected pulse rates in a three wire remote metering telemetry system in response to equal rotations of a watthour meter rotating movement, said pulse initiator comprising: first and second parallel mounting boards assembled to a watthour meter; plural pattern discs, each having different numbers of equally circumferentially spaced slot indicia disposed in identical circular tracks, each of said plural pattern discs being interchangeably mountable between said first and second mounting boards in driven relationship with the meter rotating movement; first and second optoelectronic sensors each including a radiation source optically aligned with a radiation pickup, said sources and pickups of said first and second sensors having plural alternate mounting locations on identical circular axes of said first and second mounting boards, respectively, so as to have plural alternate circumferential spacings therebetween, said circular axes being oriented for alignment with each other and said circular tracks of said pattern discs, each of said alternate circumferential spacings being associated with a different one of said pattern discs so as to have a related arcuate spacing equal to a multiple of the indicia slot spacing plus one-half of the slot spacing, whereby rotation of the slotted indicia between the sensors and pickups produces interrupted radiations that alternately activate the pickups of said first and second sensors and produce alternate equally spaced impulses in accordance with a preselected pulse rate; first and second printed circuit conductors disposed on said first and second mounting boards, respectively, and extending to alternate mounting locations for at least one of each of the radiation sources and radiation pickups so as to provide fixed common electrical connections between the alternate source and pickup mounting locations; and circuit means including an output pulse generator connected to a three wire telemetry system and receiving said impulses so as to produce output pulses at said preselected pulse rate.