US2515448A - Electronic counting ring - Google Patents

Description

y 1950 E. v.; GULDEN 2,515,448

ELECTRONIC COUNTING RING Filed Dec. 15, 1948 3nveutor ERNEST V. GULDEN (Ittomeg Patented July 18, 1950 ELECTRONIC COUNTING'RI-NG Ernest V, G ld n, O kW o Ohio, assignor to The National Cash Register Qempany, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Maryland Application December 15, lccstserial-ut. 65,4128

This invent-ion. elates to anelectronio lectric impulse-counting ring, d more p r y p ,tainsrto onemnloying i i -repre enting gaseous dischar e'electron tubes of the type having at least an anode, ,a, cathode, a control gridand an auxiliary grid, the control grid being used for priming a} tubet be; responsive, by firing and becomingconductinawhen an electri impu is received on its auxiliary grid.

This-impulsecountin ring rfor se incounting electrieimpulse ,,signals receivedat. high speed. An early typeofsuch a counting ring was devised vJoy. Wynn-Williams. and disclosed in Proceedings, oi. the; Royal Society (London) 132,295 (1931),, thatri employin aseou dischar erelectronptubes.of the triode type includ ns anwanodefa cathod an .a control grid, sis; rials and; priming Q tor successive tube operation bothhbeing impressed onthe control grid .Thismven ion employs separat ri for h urimingand.si nalv eceiving functions an ives anadvantage not obtainable in the heretofor isn yrn, rings. in. thatannnprimed tube cannot be fir'edby. an unusually large pulse received on the signal-receiving grid, This is not true of, rings \vhichq-areprimed. and receive firing impulses on the same'grid, and such rings may have erratic operation When: excessively strong signals are received, The counting ring of this invention is capable of correct performance under such conditions. v

It is, therefore, an-object of this invention to provide .a counter of electric impulses comprisingsa'zc reui employin di it-representin gasel otron, tubeshay ng leas n anode, a cathode, a control electrode and an auxiliary electrode, so arranged in a circuit network that only-i a *tube primed on its control electrode by a preceding conducting tube"in the ring can be fired by an electric impulse impressed on the auxiliary electrode of said primed tube.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a counting device in which all priming is done on the control electrodes from a preceding tube in the ring and all firing is done by the auxiliary electrodes on which the electric impulses are commonly received.

With these and other objects in view the invention includes other features of novelty, all coming within the scope of the claims and which will be described with reference to the drawing which is a diagrammatical representation of a decimal order of a numerical counting ring, part being broken away where the circuit is repetitive.

Claims. (eleme al l v v e 2 efe r ng to-the, drawing, t bes"- 97,. "8? and, "9 arethe digit-representing elements of a decimal counting ring, said tubes each having, as shown inconnectionwith the 0 tube, a cathode .zflhan anode 2] a c ntrol-grid 22 and an..auxili ary..grid.23., 1 Y r Where the circuit elements are repetitive reference numbers are applied only to those-gale! merits ass ciated with th "0 tube t avoid om fusion. v 1

These tubes pref rably are. of. the. typein wh ch he control grid-domi a es, by its position, over. a. d schar betwe n oathodeand an and wh einth auxilia yg id as asubordinate com trol,,may. secondarily aid or prevent such a dis charge by application of proper potentials there.- to. Such tubes maybe purchasedirom TheGeneral Electric Gompany. under type, designation GL-5663 or from Radio florporation of, America under, type designation. 21321. In describin the circuit it. willwbe assumed that they General Electrio tube type (EL-56.6.3 is-beingvused.

Ea h cathode isconnee ed oeround throu h aresistor 24, of, 20,000 ohms, shunted by a ca pacitor 2.5, of. ..005:microfarad, in series'with a resistor 26 of 2500 ohms. Each anode is connected to conductor 2.1 supplied with potential of 105 volts pesitivefromsource 2.8 through resistor 29 of 5000 ohms. When any tube becomes conducting, the discharge of the ,capaciton its cathode supply circuit causes-1a drop inpotential .oiconductor 2] because of. resistance 29. This an'odedip bringstheir potential towithin about 532. volts. .OffiI'Ql-Hld potential. Any previously conducting. tube, havin dis har ed. its ca hode capacitor, has assumed a potentialv of about .90 volts above ground potential and W111 be held there by the cathode capacitor as: conductor '21 dipsin potential whenanothen-tub discharges. will cause a. cessation of at show, me: mentarily, in the previously conducting tube permitting its grids to regain control, if properly biased. This extinguishing circuit arrangement forms no part of the novelty of this invention, but is disclosed and claimed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,401,657, issued on the application of Robert E. Mumma.

Each control grid 22 is connected through a resistance 30 of 1.5 megohms to negative volt conductor 3! and is connected at point 32 to the cathode of the preceding tube of the ring through a resistor 33 of 1 megohm.

Each auxiliary grid 23 is connected through a resistance 34 to a negative 30 volt conductor 35 and is coupled through a capacitor 36 of 10 microiliary grid electrode is of importance.

ohms and a switch 38 to a negative 100 volt source.

of supply. As the 0 tube becomes conducting any other then conducting tube is extinguished in the manner before described.

Signals, of around 30 volts as a safe minimum if of steep wave front, if applied to input terminal 40 will cause the counting ring to count by successive firing and extinguishing of the tubes, the last con-ducting tube representing, by its place in the ring, the sum of the signals entered.

Theprincipal feature'of thiscounting ring is that signals 'of-u'nusuallyhigh potential will fire only the primedtube, which*'issupposed to be an o o e Theivalues of circuit elements'given are exemplary only and in no way are tobe deemedto limit the principle of the invention as othersetsof circuit values may; easily be established; from those.

ivenfbyone skilled; in the art. The dominant control'of the control grid electrode over the aux.-

-"I he ring described is capable ofcounti'ng impulses impressed on it evenly at therate of 10,000 per second and to perform in a correct manner eventhough large variation in pulse size is encountered. This provides a great safety factor inasmuch as in previously known gas tube counting rings, a signal of exceptionally high potential would not only fire a primed tube, but one or more others that were not primed. v

" aipositive potential signal is received on line 3T it is'impressed on'the auxiliary'grid electrodes 23 of all the tubes-of the ring. The normal po'- tential jbias on the control grids 22 of the tubes is fsu iiicient'to dominate in'any tube but the one succeeding inthe ring from the conducting tube. Thus,'--inf 'the event the 0 tube isconducting its cathode will rise in. potential to a point determined by thie cathode-anode potential supply resistors. Withth'resistances shown this means a rise from about l'fvolt'negative to 76, volts positive. This changes the potential on the control grid of the fl tube from a normal 30 volts negative to 2 volts positive, leaving onlythe auxiliary grid in control 7 y ts"negativel the"jl tube will become conductingextinguishing the 0tube The same action continuesaroundthe ring-f V Whilejthe device herein'shown and described is admirbly adapted to fulfill the objects primarily ith a f30volt negative potential. When this is duced by a received inpjut impulse to around 16' stated, it is to be understood thatitis not intended to confine the invention to the one form or embodiment herein disclosed, for it is susceptible of embodiment in various forms all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. A counting device including a plurality of gaseous discharge electron --tubes each having at least an anode, a cathode, a dominant control electrode and a subordinate control electrode; circuits connecting the tubes, cathode of one to dominant control electrode of another, in a succession; means, supplying anode-cathode potential to the tubes sufficient to cause conduction therein; means supplyingbias potential to the dominant control electrodes normally suflicient to prevent conduction in the tubes, said bias being relieved in a tube through the connection of its dominant control electrode to the cathode of a preceding tube and when the preceding tube is conducting; means capacitatively coupling each subordinate control electrode to a common input conductor; and means supplying bias potential'to each subordinate controlielectrode sufiicient to prevent conductionin a tube when thebias o'fits asso ciated dominantcontrolelectrode has been relieved, except when a positive potential impulse signal is impressed thereon through said input conductor. I f I V 2. The device of claim lwhe'rein the cathodedominant control electrode connections form the succession of tubes into'a'ring, H 3. The deviceiof claim 1 in which the tubes are supplied with anode potential through a common resistor which causes the anodes of all tubes to fall in potential as a tube becomes'conducting, permittingthe dominant control electrode to resume control in any previously conducting tube.

4. The'device'oi claim l in which the means coupling each'of the subordinate control electrodes to the input conductor includes a capacitor. .5. The device of claim 1' in which means, include ing a negative potential source which may be selectivelyapplied to a cathode. of a tube, is provided to render a Selected tube conducting.

' ERNEST V. 'GULDEN.

I REFERENCES CITED The following'references' are of record'in the file of this patent:

V UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,404,918 Overbeck (B) July 30, 1946 2,442,872 Giansante June 8, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS v Number Country; 1 Date

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