GB721814A - Improvements relating to high speed electronic impulse counters - Google Patents

Abstract

721,814. Multi-stable state circuits. BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON CO., Ltd. Jan. 28, 1953, No. 2457/53. Class 40 (6). A multi-stable state pulse counting circuit comprises a chain of multi - cathode sequence tubes in which when the discharge is removed from the penultimate cathode in a given tube subsequent to its transference to the final cathode of that tube a pulse is applied to the next succeeding tube in the chain. The Figure shows a batch counting circuit in which pulses to be counted are applied at input 14 to a cathode-coupled flipflop circuit comprising valves V1, V2 the resultant negative-going pulses at the anode of valve V2 being applied directly and via a delay network in unit 20 to the guide electrodes 12, 13 of a sequence. tube T1 as described in Specification 691,623. The application of each pulse to guide electrodes 12, 13 advances the discharge one step in tube T1 until when the discharge is removed from cathode 9 the resulting negative pulse at cathode resistor R9 is differentiated in network 17, 18 and the resulting sharp negative pulse cuts-off valve V4 of the flip-flop circuit comprising valve V4, V5. The negative pulse thus produced at the anode of valve V5 is passed to the input flip-flop circuit corresponding to valves V1, V2 of the next stage of the counting chain. The stages are set to a given count by the selector switches 16 so that if the stage shown is set, for example, to a count of 6, when the discharge reaches cathode 6 a positive pulse is produced across resistor R6 and applied to line 25 simultaneously with pulses from the corresponding cathode resistors in the other stages. This coincidence of pulses causes flip-flop circuit 22 to change-over to produce a negative pulse at the anode of valve V6 and thus at the final cathode 10 of each sequence tube to re-set each tube to the zero position. Specification 704,816, [Group XIX], also is referred to.