Electronic digital computer with word field selection

Claim 1

IN AN INTERNALLY PROGRAMMED COMPUTER IN WHICH DIGITS ARE TRANSFERRED SERIALLY IN BINARY-CODED DECIMAL FORM, THE FOUR BINARY BITS OF EACH DECIMAL DIGIT BEING TRANSFERRED IN PARALLEL, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING SHIFT REGISTER MEANS FOR STORING AND SERIALLY SHIFTING A GROUP OF DIGITS CONSTITUTING A COMMAND, THE SHIFT REGISTER MEANS INCLUDING FOUR FLIP-FLOPS FOR EACH DIGIT STORED, MEANS FOR COUPLING THE FOUR FLIP-FLOPS STORING A FIRST ONE OF THE DIGITS IN THE REGISTER MEANS AS A FIRST DECIMAL COUNTER, MEANS FOR COUPLING THE FOUR FLIP-FLOPS STORING A SECOND ONE OF THE DIGITS IN THE REGISTER MEANS AS A SECOND DECIMAL COUNTER, MEANS FOR COUNTING UP THE FIRST DECIMAL COUNTER IN RESPONSE TO APPLIED COUNTING PULSES, MEANS FOR COUNTING DOWN THE SECOND COUNTER IN RESPONSE TO APPLIED COUNTING PULSES, A CLOCK PULSE SOURCE, FIRST GATING MEANS FOR GATING PULSES FROM SAID SOURCE TO THE MEANS FOR COUNTING UP THE FIRST DECIMAL COUNTER, SECOND GATING MEANS FOR GATING PULSES FROM SAID SOURCE TO THE MEANS FOR COUNTING DOWN THE SECOND DECIMAL COUNTER, THE FIRST GATING MEANS BEING INITIALLY OPEN AT THE START OF AN EXECUTE OPERATION BY THE COMPUTER, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE COUNT CONDITION OF THE FIRST DECIMAL COUNTER FOR CLOSING THE FIRST GATING MEANS WHEN THE FIRST DECIMAL COUNTER IS COUNTED UP THROUGH NINE AND RETURNED TO ZERO, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE CLOSING OF THE FIRST GATING MEANS FOR OPENING THE SECOND GATING MEANS, WHEREBY THE SECOND COUNTER IS CAUSED TO COUNT FOLLOWING THE COUNTING OF THE COUNTER, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE COUNT CONDITION OF THE SECOND COUNTER FOR CLOSING THE SECOND GATING MEANS WHEN THE SECOND COUNTER IS COUNTED DOWN TO ZERO, AND MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING THE DIGITS OF AN OPERAND WORD DIGIT BY DIGIT IN SYNCHRONISM WITH THE COUNTING OF THE DECIMAL COUNTERS BY THE COUNTING PULSE, THE TRANSFERRING MEANS INCLUDING GATING MEANS CONTROLLED BY THE COUNTERS FOR SELECTIVELY PASSING THE DIGITS OF THE OPERAND WORD TO ONE OUTPUT ONLY DURING THE COUNTING OF THE SECOND COUNTER.