Apparatus for controlling the operating mode of a hydrocarbon distributor of electronic computer design

Claim 1

Apparatus for controlling the operating modes of a hydrocarbon distributor, such modes including the price per unit volume of a hydrocarbon to be distributed, the hydrocarbon distributor being of the type comprising means for measuring the hydrocarbon volume distributed, an explosion-proof enclosure having an external wall, an electronic computing circuit placed inside said enclosure to deliver at least the cost of the distributed hydrocarbon on the basis of the distributed volume information and operating mode data, and means for displaying at least said cost delivered by said computing circuit, said apparatus further comprising: external control means outside of said distributor to generate a coded infrared wave beam representative of one of the operating mode data; a window provided in said enclosure and made of a material allowing the passage of said coded infrared beam while keeping said enclosure explosion-proof; and, inside said enclosure, means placed opposite said window and within said enclosure for receiving said coded infrared beam emitted by said external control means and for converting said beam into coded electrical signals, and means for decoding said electric signals and for generating information representative of one of said operating modes for use by said computing circuit in computing said cost of the distributed hydrocarbon.