Multiplex recording and playback system

Claim 1

A MULTIPLEX RECORDING AND PLAYBACK SYSTEM FOR RECORDING AND REPRODUCING THE POSITIONS OF A PLURALITY OF SHAFTS COMPRISING A REFERENCE A.C. SIGNAL SOURCE, A PLURALITY OF PHASE TRANSDUCERS EACH ADAPTED TO CONVERT POSITIONS OF A PLURALITY OF SHAFTS INTO A PLURALITY OF A.C. SIGNALS OF LOWER AMPLITUDES THAN SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL, SAID LOW AMPLITUDE SIGNALS HAVING PHASE RELATIONSHIPS TO SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL DEPENDENT UPON THE INDIVIDUAL SHAFT POSITION THEREOF, A PLURALITY OF GATE MEANS EACH HAVING A SIGNAL INPUT, A SIGNAL OUTPUT, AND A GATING INPUT, SAID NUMBER OF GATE MEANS BEING ONE MORE THAN SAID NUMBER OF LOW AMPLITUDE SIGNALS, GATING SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID GATE MEANS GATING INPUT, SAID GATING SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS OPERABLE TO SEQUENTIALLY GATE SAID PLURALITY OF GATE MEANS, THE OUTPUTS OF SAID PHASE TRANSDUCERS EACH CONNECTED TO THE SIGNAL INPUT OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID GATE MEANS, SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL SOURCE CONNECTED TO THE SIGNAL INPUT OF THE REMAINING GATE MEANS, A SINGLE-TRACK RECORDING MEDIUM, MEANS CONNECTED TO EACH GATE MEANS OUTPUT FOR RECORDING SAID GATE MEANS OUTPUTS ON SAID RECORDING MEDIUM, PLAYBACK MEANS FOR REPRODUCING SAID GATE MEANS OUTPUTS FROM SAID RECORDING MEDIUM, SAID PLAYBACK MEANS HAVING A SINGLE OUTPUT, A PLURALITY OF GATES INCLUDING A REFERENCE SIGNAL GATE, EACH OF SAID GATES HAVING A SIGNAL INPUT, A SIGNAL OUTPUT AND A GATING INPUT, SAID PLAYBACK MEANS OUTPUT CONNECTED TO ALL OF SAID GATE SIGNAL INPUTS, A GATING SIGNAL GENERATOR CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID GATING INPUTS, SYNCHRONIZING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID GATING SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS WITH SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL WHEREBY SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL GATE IS GATED UPON WHENEVER A REFERENCE SIGNAL APPEARS AT THE OUTPUT OF SAID RECORDING MEANS, A PLURALITY OF DETECTING MEANS EACH CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT OF A SEPARATE ONE OF SAID DETECTING MEANS, A PLURALITY OF RESOLVER MEANS EACH CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID DETECTING MEANS AND TO SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL DETECTING MEANS, AND A PLURALITY OF SHAFT DRIVING MEANS EACH CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID RESOLVER MEANS.