Automatic machine tool control

Claim 1

IN AN AUTOMATIC SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING A MACHINE, A DIRECTOR CONNECTED FOR ON-LINE OPERATION TO DIRECTLY ACTUATE AN ANALOGUE SERVO-MECHANISM CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF SAID MACHINE, INPUT MEANS FOR SEQUENTIALLY APPLYING TO SAID DIRECTOR A PREDETERMINED PROGRAM COMPRISING A SERIES OF INDIVIDUAL COMMANDS, EACH OF SAID COMMANDS CONTAINING INFORMATION DIGITALLY ENCODED IN A PLURALITY OF DISCRETE ELECTRICAL SIGNALS, MEANS TO STORE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN ONE OF SAID COMMANDS, MEANS TO PRODUCE IN A PREDETERMINED TIME INTERVAL A TRAIN OF PULSES CONSISTING OF A NUMBER OF PULSES DETERMINED BY THE INFORMATION IN SAID STORED COMMAND, FIRST AND SECOND COUNTDOWN CIRCUITS CONNECTED TO BE ACTUATED FROM A COMMON MASTER SOURCE TO PRODUCE FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT SIGNALS RESPECTIVELY, MEANS TO APPLY SAID TRAIN OF PULSES TO ONE OF SAID COUNTDOWN CIRCUITS TO PHASE MODULATE ITS OUTPUT SIGNAL TO A DEGREE PROPORTIONAL TO THE NUMBER OF PULSES IN SAID TRAIN, MEANS TO APPLY SAID FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT SIGNALS TO SAID SERVO-MECHANISM, SAID ANALOGUE SERVO-MECHANISM BEING RESPONSIVE TO THE PHASE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT SIGNALS TO ACTUATE SAID MACHINE TO AN EXTEND DETERMINED BY DIGITAL INFORMATION IN SAID INPUT PROGRAM.