Firing circuit for controlled rectifiers

Claim 1

IN COMBINATION, A PAIR OF TERMINALS ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO A SOURCE OF SUPPLY, A PLURALITY OF CONTROLLED RECTIFIERS CONNECTED IN SERIES RELATIONSHIP ACROSS SAID TERMINALS AND EACH HAVING AN ANODE, A CATHODE AND A GATE CONTROL ELECTRODE, MEANS FOR SUPPLYING A GATING CURRENT SIGNAL IMPULSE TO THE GATE OF A FIRST OF SAID RECTIFIERS TO INITIATE CONDUCTION THEREIN, AND MEANS FOR SYMPATHETICALLY FIRING EACH OF THE REMAINING UNFIRED RECTIFIERS SUBSTANTIALLY SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE FIRING OF SAID FIRST RECTIFIER AND FOR BALANCING THE VOLTAGES ACROSS SAID CONTROLLED RECTIFIERS COMPRISING AN IMPEDANCE VOLTAGE DIVIDER CONNECTED IN PARALLEL WITH SAID RECTIFIERS AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF SIMILAR SECTIONS CONNECTED IN SERIES TO PROVIDE A PLURALITY OF INTERMEDIATE VOLTAGE POINTS ON SAID DIVIDER, EACH CORRESPONDING TO THE GATE OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID REMAINING RECTIFIERS AND AN IMMEDIATE ELECTRICAL CONNECTION FROM EACH OF THE GATES OF SAID REMAINING RECTIFIERS TO A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID INTERMEDIATE VOLTAGE POINTS FOR SUPPLYING A GATE CURRENT SIGNAL FROM SAID VOLTAGE DIVIDER TO THE GATE OF EACH OF SAID REMAINING RECTIFIERS IN RESPONSE TO INITIATION OF CONDUCTION IN AN ADJACENT RECTIFIER.