Electronic chronometer

Claim 1

A numerical timing apparatus for sporting events such as marathons and the like races involving a large number of participants progressing on the same track between a starting gate and a finish line but not necessarily crossing the starting gate simultaneously, comprising: a. signal means to produce an electrical signal which coincides in time with the lowering of the starting gate for one or more participants or the crossing of the finish line by any participant; b. a multiple level register intended for the temporary registration of all starting times and of all finish times, including those happening in close succession; c. an oscillator and decade counters group for producing a clock signal throughout said competition, said clock signal incorporating time information and being adapted to be applied to said register in response to said electrical signal; d. starting time memory means coupled to the output of said register and used to store every starting time registered; e. finish time memory means coupled to the output of the said register for storing every finish time registered in said register; f. manual keying address means associated with said starting time and finish time memory means and operated throughout said sporting event for keying in the participant's identification codes whose recorded times are being retrieved from said register and stored in one of said memory means; g. means for the subtraction of digital values intended for selectively subtracting for any one of said participants the starting time stored in said starting memory means from the current clock signal, or alternatively, from the participant's registered or stored finish time; and h. means for decoding and displaying the data furnished by said subtraction means thereby giving a visual indication of the track time of any one of the participants during the competition, and the final time when that participant crosses the finish line.

Claim 19

A method of timing a sporting event such as marathons and the like races involving a large number of participants whose starting times may differ, each participant having and carrying in a visible fashion a different identification code, comprising the step of using a timing apparatus having a source of clock signal, a multi-level register means, a memory of sufficient capacity, address keying means for entry of said identification codes, a manual control for transferring time date from said register means to an appropriate place in said memory, a subtractor for subtracting a first time value from a recorded time value and output means for indicating the time difference calculated by said subtractor, and the steps of: a. prerecording in said memory the names and the identification codes of each and all participants; b. using said source of clock signal for temporarily storing in said multi-level register means the times of the successive start and finish events in the order of their occurrence; c. retrieving from said register means and, while the race is in progress, transferring to said memory said last mentioned times by successively keying into said timing apparatus by means of said address keying means the identification code of the participant associated with the start or finish event whose time the operator wishes to place into said memory and actuating said manual control for triggering said retrieval and transfer from said register means to said memory; d. repeating the same procedure for every other start or finish event whose time was stored in said register means but had not yet been retrieved therefrom, until depletion of all useful times stored in said register means; e. keying into said timing apparatus by means of said address keying means the identification code of the next participant about to cross the finish line; f. applying to said subtractor as said second time value the source of clock pulses and as said first time value the start time of said last mentioned participant, which start time was stored in said memory, maintaining this condition until said last mentioned participant crosses said finish line; g. when said last mentioned participant crosses said finish line, applying to said substractor, as said second time value, the finish time being stored in said register means; h. shortly, after said last mentioned crossing, actuating said manual control for retrieving from said register means and transferring to said memory said last mentioned finish time; i. repeating steps (e) to (h) for every successive finish event; j. repeating steps (c) and (d) at the first opportunity whenever successive events take place too rapidly for steps (e) to (h) to be performed on a continuing basis; and k. throughout the sporting event, indicating said time difference by means of said output means.

Claim 20

A method of timing a sporting event such as marathons and the like races involving a large number of participants whose starting times may differ, each participant having and carrying in a visible fashion a different identification code, comprising the step of using a timing apparatus having a source of clock signal, a multi-level register means, a memory of sufficient capacity, address keying means for entry of said identification codes, a manual control for transferring time date from said register means to an appropriate place in said memory, a subtractor for subtracting a first time value from a recorded time value and output means for indicating the time difference calculated by said subtractor, and the steps of: a. prerecording in said memory the names and the identification codes of each and all participants; b. using said source of clock signal for temporarily storing in said multi-level register means the times of the successive start and finish events in the order of their occurrence; c. retrieving from said register means and, while the race is in progress, transferring to said memory said last mentioned times by successively keying into said timing apparatus by means of said address keying means the identification code of the participant associated with the start or finish event whose time the operator wishes to place into said memory and actuating said manual control for triggering said retrieval and transfer from said register means to said memory; d. repeating the same procedure for every other start or finish event whose time was stored in said register means but had not yet been retrieved therefrom, until depletion of all useful times stored in said register means; e. keying into said timing apparatus by means of said address keying means the identification code of the next participant about to cross the finish line; f. applying to said subtractor as said second time value the source of clock pulses and as said first time value the start time of said last mentioned participant, which start time was stored in said memory, maintaining this condition until said last mentioned participant crosses said finish line; g. when said last mentioned participant crosses said finish line, applying to said substractor, as said second time value, the finish time being stored in said register means; h. shortly, after said last mentioned crossing, actuating said manual control for retrieving from said register means and transferring to said memory said last mentioned finish time; i. repeating steps (e) to (h) for every successive finish event; j. repeating steps (c) and (d) at the first opportunity whenever successive events take place too rapidly for steps (e) to (h) to be performed on a continuing basis; and k. throughout the sporting event, indicating said time difference by means of said output means.