US2295000A - Rapid selector-calculator - Google Patents

Description

\ Sept. 8, .1942. R. s. MORSE 2,295,000

RAPID SELEGTOR-GALCUIQATOR Filed June 25, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 12 i o 3 65M G 1 0 o CA @33 u o 1 a Q o I O 0 E o 5? 0 O5; 0 05? o 0; D

o 2 a O Y a a o O RICHARD s. MORSE INVENTQR ATTORNEYS R. S. MORSE Filed June 23, 1938 RAP ID SELECTOR- CALCULATOR 5 Sheets-Shee t 2 FIG. 2.

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MODULATOR 33 v 34 AMPLIFIER OSCILLATOR COUN TER 0R RELAY RIL'IL4RD S. MORSE INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Sept. 8,1942. R. s. MORSE 2,295,000

RAPID SELECTOR-CALCULATOR Filed June 23, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 PIC-.4.

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ATTORNEYS Sept. 8, 1942.

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Patented Sept. 8,1942

RAPID SELECTOR-CAM inn Richard S. Morse, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Roch ster, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 23, 1938, Serial No. 215,459 1 Claim. (Cl. 111-07) This inventionrelates to methods of and apparatus for automatic sorting, selecting, and calculating.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method and means for recording a series of information items such as identification cards, bank checks, sales records, or, literature abstracts, together with a code whereby it is possible to select conveniently and rapidly from the series, one or a group of itexns.

It is another object of the invention similarly to record the amounts of checks or othernumerical values so that all or certain of the items may be added, subtracted, counted, or otherwise employedincalculations.

According to the invention, a statistical record is made up on a band similar to a motion picture film with a series of information items along in frequencies of 100 cycles may be easily detected at high speed, that is, at a high speed of one side of the band and a code runningv longitudinally along the other side of the band. In the preferred form of the invention the portion of the code corresponding to any particular item is "positioned immediately adjacent to that item, but in some cases it may be more convenient to have the corresponding code and information portions separated by a certain distance. The term adjacen is used in this specification and claims to cover both the case where the code is immediately adjacent to the corresponding item and that where it is separated by one or more frames from this item.

The code comprises one or more frequency tracks which are similar to sound tracks used in sound motion pictures, but-since the reproduction of sound\per se is in no Way involved in the present invention the more appropriate term frequency track is used to describe the rec- These frequency tracks being similar to sound tracks may be formed in any desired manner such as magnetic or mechanical but are preferably photographic either variable density or ariable area recorded in any one of a num-- ber of ways such as by a ribbon type light valve, 9. galvanometer, a Kerr cell or a glow lamp. The absolute frequency corresponding to one of these tracks depends, of course, on the speed with which the track is scanned, i. e., the speed with which the film moves past a given point. Following the usual custdm of sound recording, a

frequency track will be said to have a certain frequency, which statement infers the assumption of a constant standard film speed. In general the frequency tracks will'be recorded at a much lower speed than that at which they are to be reproduced. By suitable means, differences change from one frequency to another caused by short lengths of track'being used for each frame. As an example, it is possible when the film. runs during reproduction at 180 feet per minute to record and employ any frequency falling in the range of 100 to 15,000 cycles per second, thus a 4 single track will permit differentiation between 150 items, and by using five tracks say, it is possible to get over 500,000,000 different combinations. As will be shQ wn it is more practical to employ frequency intervals of 200 cycles and thus each track will permit only 75 different code frequencies. 1

In employing this statistical record according to the invention, the record fil-m is moved at a relatively high speed and each of the frequency tracks is separately convertedflnto electric current and the selection of a particular item of information is made by selecting the combination of frequencies which match the code of the item desired. In the example discussed, if a group of items are to be selected whose code differs only in one of the five frequency tracks, selection is made according to and by matching the other four tracks only. That is, the mechanism is set according to the other four tracks only and picks up all items which match in these' four tracks independent of the frequency in said one of the five tracks.

According to one embodiment of the invention, when a selection is so made, the particular item or items selected are photographed, preferably .by high speed photography so that it is not necessary to halt the moving band. This may be done in any one of a number of ways but I prefer to use some form of flashing lamp so that the information item to be selected and photographed is illuminated only when a selection has.

been made according tothe output of the photoelectric cells scanning the code.

The term information item as used here and in the accompanyingclaim has its obvious meaningsnamely, a positively definit thing made up for example of a silver photographic image in a colloid or the like and representing information; For examples, a picture od aperson represents the appearance of that person, a written I or printed word represents a fact or thing and recorded codes are similar to the printed word. However, information item" refers to the concrete thing itself not the information it represents. .It is that concrete thing "information item which is to be selected and in the last mentioned embodiment of the invention, to be photographed.

The invention, its objects and advantages willbe more fully understood from the followingdscri-ption when read in connection with the accompanying drawing. in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates the selection of an item according to the invention.

. Fig. 2 showsan electric circuit suitable. for use with the invention.

Fig. 3 shows another suitable electric circuit.

Fig. 4 illustrates various ways in which the selecting, sorting Or calculating device may be made to respond to the frequencies of a plurality of frequency tracks.

Fig. 5 shows a calculating machine made acfrequency tracks ll, II, II, ii, and H. The items of information may be identification cards, i. e. photographs thereof as shown, for example social security records, or may be bank checks, ab-

- stractsof books or published articles. or similar subjects. Considering the example of social security cards, it is obvious that when a plurality of frequency tracks are used in which one track records the year in which a person is born, another track records the state or country in which they were born, etc., etc., it is possible to obtain innumerable types of information from these statistical records by suitable calculating devices controlled by the frequency tracks.

In the example shown track II is scanned by means of a light source ll. an optical system shown as lenses I! and 20 and a photoelectric cell 2!. Similar scanning devices operate on the other tracks but are omitted from this figure for the sake of clarity. Any of the well-known methods for scanning adjacent frequency tracks may be employed, for example: small juxtaposed cells shown in U. S. 1,786,027, Owens or Fig. 3 of U. S. 1,833,372, Pomeroy; staggered cells as shown in U. S. 1,950,011, Scheibell; optical rods as shown in U. S. 2,093,490, Schwarz; reflecting beam splitters as shown in U. S. 1,930,362, Konemann, U. S. 2,102,695, Gieskieng, U. S. 2,060,204. Hammond, crossed optical systems as the oscillator is set. For this reaching the rectifier 21.

oscillator 21, the difference frequency between v the two will be unable to pass through this low pass filter 20 and hence there will be no current On the other hand when the frequency output of the photoelectric cell M as determined by the frequency of the track ll matches that of the oscillator 24, or

differs from it only by a few cycles, the indicator or relay "will be operated.

This latter arrangement while possible, has several practical disadvantages. It is of course difficult to get an exact match between the oscillator and signal frequencies and if the difference frequency is only five cycles persecond say, it would be practically impossible to select from items scanned at a speed of 25 per second. Such a selection would have to be'made during one fifth of one cycle of the difi'erence frequency.

- Therefor I prefer to employ as code frequencies only those differing by intervals of about 200 say and to select one of these codes by modulation with an oscillator differing therefrom by 90 cycles say. For example frequencies of 0, 200, 400, 600 etc. cycles per second can be employed for the code and oscillators operating at 90, 290,

490 etc. cycles per second can be used for selectin'g. A low pass filter transmitting 90 cycles relatively well and obstructing 100 cycles greatly, prevents practically any current reaching the output of the channel. Obviously care must be exercised to prevent any operation of the selecting mechanism due to beat frequencies .or difference frequencies lie-.- tween harmonics of the oscillator frequency and a signal frequency other than the one for which purpose it is usually sufiicient'to use as the relay 28, one which does not respond when the input thereto is below shown in U. s. 2,008,712, Hammond, projection systems as shown in Fig. 7 of U. S. 2,101,121, Wixon, or a combination of projection and beam splitting as shown in U. S. 2,143,400, Albersheim. The output of the photoelectric cell 2| is passed through an amplifier 22 and a modulator 23 wherein it is modulated by a frequency originating in a suitable oscillator 24 such as an alternator', mechanical vibrator or electronic oscillator, whosefrequency is determined by an oscillator' control 25. The output of, the modulator is passed through'a low pass filter 26 and a rectiller 2! to operate an indicator or relay 28. The low :pass filter 26 is arranged to pass, only those frequencies which, are less than 100 cycles in this particular example and hence when the output frequency of the amplifier 22 differs by 100 cycles or more from the frequency of the output of the a certain range.

For high speed selecting, it is preferable to have a difference frequency between the oscil- Jator and signal frequencies which is greater than the speed of selection, 1. e., the selection or scanning frequency. The interval between successive frequencies used for the code must be greater than twice this difference frequency so that the selector will be sensitive only to one code frequency. Therefore since the total range of useful frequencies is limited, the low pass filter should cut off approximately at one-half of the code interval frequency and the difference frequency should be just less than this cut off frequency so as to be transmitted by the filter. There is one other obvious limitation to the frequencies, namely the oscillator frequency must be above the frequency passed by the low pass filter or the oscillator itself will energize the relays (unless some involved circuit is used). Thus it is difiicult to decodezero frequency, but this region is of little interest because of extraneous frequencies due to frame lines etc.

The relay 28 may be connected in series with the corresponding relays for the other four frequency tracks, so that only when all five tracks have the predetermined code values for which the oscillators are set, will the relays all be closed to give an indication of or otherwise select a certain item or series of items. According to one embodiment of the invention, when a selection is so made, the item is photographed by a camera 29 such as an ordinary box camera if only one item is to be selected or any quick wind camera or motion picture camera with single frame release if a. series of items are to be photographed. It is even possible to make such a photograph without Stopping the motion-of the film band II by using a high-speed shutter, with or without an optical rectifier to compensate for the motion of thefllm as used for photoflnish race track judging or in the example shown by using a flashing lamp 8!) (such as a mercury vapor lamp or any of the modern improvements thereof as described in U. 8. 2,201,166 and U. 8. 2,185,189, Germeshauser or in FlashSeeing The Unseen by Photography by H. E. Edgerton and J. R.

Killian--Hale' Publishing Company) operated by a power source Ii in accordance with the relays including relay 28, which lamp gives a very intense but brief illumination of theinformation item being photographed. In operating this parti-cular embodiment of the invention, the band III which is usually stored on large reels is run through a machine in which the oscillators corresponding to the oscillator 24 are all set according to a particular code and when the information item corresponding to that code passes the camera 29 a photograph is made of it without stopping the motion of the band. The operator merely starts the machine and develops the picture which he receives. If a series of items are to be similarly selected, it is necessary to have some form of film changing mechanism (not shown) such as a motion picture pull-down in the camera 29. This film advancing mechanism 7 may be operated by the relay 28 with a suitable time delay mechanism such as described in many patents including U. 8. 2,119,846, Fuller.

In Fig. 2, conventional symbols are used to show a suitable electric circuit comprising the photoelectric cell 21, the amplifier 22, the modulator 23-, the oscillator 24 with its control 25, the

low pass filter 26, the rectifier 21, and the relay 28. Various equivalent circuits may be used for the separate units. The selector or counter operated by the relay 28 is shown at 32, which may or maynot be connected to a flashing lamp control such as 3! shown in Fig. 1. Although I prefer to use an arrangement such as shown in Figs. 2 or 3 the present invention is not limited to any particular means for determining and select. ing a particular frequency. Furthermore, although frequency is the most easily distinguishable characteristic of a frequency track, it is possible according to the invention to use a code in which the amplitude and/or the phase ofthe frequency track is the factor which varies rather than the frequency itself, or to use combinations of these changes with'frequency change.

Fig. 3 differs from Fig. 2 mainly in the arrangement whereby the oscillator frequency from oscillator 24 and the signal code frequency from amplifier 22 are introduced to a modulator 33.

In fact, the relative position of these imputs are reversed in Fig. 3. With this latter arrangement,

the oscillator frequency always appears at the modulator output, but no modulator components are present except when the signal input appears. Also the even harmonics of the oscillator are eliminated and odd harmonics produced in the modulator are not modulated with the signal frequency. 1

- Thus there is provided by the invention a means whereby through proper setting of a series of oscillators, a particular combination of sound tracks when scanned will cause all, or a given number, of the relays to operate. These relays are employed in a suitable manner to operate 'a counting mechanism or control the exposure of a rapidly running film so as to obtain a photographic record of a particular information item are operated either by the channel 31 alone or by the other four channels in series.

responding to the photoelectric cell It is conand ID. are arranged with similar electric circuits to operate a sorter or counter 22. .The channel of the photoelectric cell 35 comprises two parallel paths so that if the output of the photoelectric cell 35- has either of two frequencies, as determined by oscillators (osc l and osc 2), a corresponding relay will be operated. The two modulators, the two low pass filters, the two rectiiiers and the two relays are shown separate, bu oi course, the two modulators could feed into the same L. 1?. filter and a single circuit from there on would suflice. In general it is not advisable to combine the two modulatorsbecause of the possibility of making the channel sensitive to a code frequency matching a beat frequency between the two oscillator frequencies.

The channel corresponding to the photoelectric cell 35 operates in series with the others in the in series so that the sorter or counter 32 is The channel cornected to a relay which is reversed so that it is closed except when a certain frequency is set up according to the output of this photoelectric cell.

The channel corresponding to the photoelectric cell 39 is provided with a. shorting switch]! which is shown in the closed position so that the output of the photoelectric cell 39 has no effect on the system.

All of these arrangements are shown merely to illustrate the. various possibilities of the invention. Also any one of these alternative arrangements may be extended, such for example as having three or more oscillators with corresponding modulators, etc.

In connection with Fig. 1, it was pointed out that by suitable counting mechanisms, it is possible to obtain from a statistical record made according to the invention, various types of statistics, such as the total number of items having a certain feature in common which is indicated by one or more of the frequency tracks. In Fig. 5 this principleis extended to a calculating device.- v In addition to the code frequencytracks I2 there is provided a plurality of tracks in which are recorded numerical values according to a similar code. Each of these tracks is simi larly scanned by an optical system comprising a source of light 40, lenses 4! and I2, and a photoelectric cell 43, together with its amplifier ll.

The output of this amplifier 44 is passed through the digits (e. g. 0) may have a code frequency of zero. The output of these modulators 05 through suitable low pass filters and rectiflers l'l, operates relays and counters l8. Thus when the code corresponding to the digit 0 appears on one of the tracks 50, the uppermost relay operates moving that counter one division. Any of the well-known calculating devices may be coupled to these counters to correlate the data thus received in any suitable way.

In any of these count-ing mechanisms, multiplying or dividing circuits such as described by Wynn Williams (Proceeding of the Royal Society A. 136, p. 312 (1932)) may be incorporated to speed up the counting processes proper allowance being made for the characteristics of these cir-' cults.

An alternative arrangement is shown in Fig. 6 wherein each track has a simple code consisting of one light and one dark area for the digit 1, two light and two dark areas for the digit 2, and so on up to ten light and ten dark areas for the digit 0. Since an impulse in the output of the photoelectric cell 43 results from each light area, a suitable D. C. amplifier 49 operates a counter one unit for each light area. Since this arrangement is relatively slow, it is less preferable.

If desired a camera may be arranged to photograph the counter :18 in either Fig. 5 or Fig. 6 at predetermined intervals or in accordance with the code l2.

The possible applications of this invention are almost innumerable. Another type of use which is a combination of the selecting process of either Fig. 1 or Fig. 5 and the statistical compilation discussed in connection with Fig. l is illustrated by the following example. A bureau of criminal investigation is provided with a band carrying either five tracks corresponding to the file numbers of registered criminals or a photographable area showing the number and name of the criminal. Adjacent to these tracks or area is a plurality of tracks each corresponding to some characteristic of the criminal such as city, state, or area of activities, type of activity, color of hair, height, approximate year of birth, etc. When a description of a criminal and/or of a crime is reported, and corresponding decoding devices (such as oscillators) arranged, the band provides a list of likely suspects in an automatic manner. If only the total number of such suspects is the information required this process is the same as the compilation of statistics from social security records.

In Fig. 7 there is shown a convenient manner of combining the information received from one of the frequency tracks 5|) of Fig. 5. The counters corresponding to the digits are labeled 52-0, 52-1, 52-2, 523, and 524, etc. "I'hrough a suitable gear train each of these counters operates a ratchet clutch 53 to rotate an index 54 over a circular scale 55, a certain number 01' units corresponding to the digit recorded. A photographic record of the data indicated by the pointer 54 may be made by a camera 56, prefer ably at intervals determined by the code l2.

In Fig. 8, there is shown one manner of recording the frequency tracks to be used as a code either in sorting and selecting or in calculating. The particular example shows one method of obtaining the statistical record employed in Fig. 1. The sensitive film I0 is provided with an area I I arranged to receive the information item which is to be recorded and with an area I2 arranged to receive a plurality of frequency tracks. The sensitive film is driven by a sprocket or roller 60 connected to a motor 6| through a suitable gear train GI. 'I'hefilm is permitted to move only one frame (1. e. the area required for one unit of information) at a time and is prevented from further motion by a bar 63 which engages a single tooth ratchet 62. The motion of the film band [0 is uniform or substantially so between the stops.

In operating the device, the information to be recorded, shown as a negative 61, is positioned relation to the sensitive area II. By means (established by condensers 'H) or the inductance of an oscillating circuit 12 is set for predetermined value. In the example shown the two rows of keys 10 control the capacity by introducing one or more of the condensers ,II to the oscillating circuit either. directly or by means of relays. ,The other keys of the keyboard i9 similarly control oscillating circuits corresponding to other frequency tracks on the statistical record in.

The output of the oscillator I2 is coupled through suitable means 13 to operate a light valve 14 through which light from a source 15 exposes one of the frequency tracks i2. As pointed out previously the light valve '14 may be of any of the types used in sound recording.

when the light valve 14 is oscillating properly according to the desired code frequency, the switch 65 is closed which turns on the light source 65 and exposes the sensitive area H to the image of the information item 51. .Current is also passed through asolenoid 84 raising the bar 53 which'opens the switch 56 completing the exposure. At this completion of the exposure the bar 63 is fully withdrawn from the single tooth ratchet 62 so that the film Ill moves forward at a uniform rate recording the frequency track or tracks corresponding to this particular item of information.

Other means of varying the frequencies recorded are equally satisfactory, for example two oscillators in a heterodyne circuit may be'varied. In order to insure that the frequency of the track is constant throughout one frame it may be desirable to have the oscillator vary slightly. 1. e. speed up as the driving mechanism is coming up to full speed or better still the oscillator may be a vibrator or mechanical device controlled by the speed of the band. One or a plurality of tuning forks may be used to maintain a standard comparison frequency.

On the other hand, the code frequencies may be recorded on cards or on negatives which are properly arranged and photographed simultaneously or consecutively with the photographing of the information item. These pre made frequencies may be kept on a double reel suitably arranged so that any desired frequency may be rapidly brought into position.

In order to insure that the resultant statistical record is run at a. speed bearing a constant ratio to the recording speed, a constant frequency track may be recorded along one side of the film and used to control the decoding speed.

Various modifications of these arrangements for making a statistical record according to the invention will suggest themselves from the above description. For example the information record 51 may already be recorded on a photographic film or may be otherwise mounted so as to move to compensate for motion of the film Ill so that the exposing of the area II' may continue during the motion of the film. However, the present invention is not primarily concerned with such minor details and is not limited to the specific embodiments shown but is of the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A' device adapted to be controlled by one par- I ticular frequency of a frequency track in which with respect to an optical system 68 in printing are recorded only certain frequencies differing y from one another by a substantially constant frequency interval or multiples of this interval, wh1ch device comprises means for scanning the energy of corresponding frequency. means in.- cludln: an oscillator for m d'i ltlns this electric enem with another alternatingelectrlc encrusaid oscillator proqucin: the letter enemy with a predetermined frequency which dlflerl from said particular frequency by on amo mt between and eetabllshinl an llternaflnl electric oljflflfreqxiency intervoLo lowpoanltei-oonnectedtothem tput o! the moduletlng menu for trmnnittlog only .treqiiencieile'slthmhflfotaldtrequencylntervlllndelectricelmeansconnectedtothelow 'plll and operated by said lrequenclu.

new a. HORSE.

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