摘要：

THIS DISPLAY HAS NO MECHANICAL MOVING PARTS - THE INDICATION IS BASED ON EXHIBITING ALTERNATIVELY A TRANSPARENT OR NON-TRANSPARENT LIQUID IN AN OBSERVABLE PART OF A TRANSPARENT CLOSED CHANNEL CONNECTED TO A DISPLAY INPUT.THE DISPLAY IS COMPOSED OF A NUMBER OF IDENTICAL INDICATING ELEMENTS, EACH OF THEM CAPABLE OF INDICATING MORE THAN ONE SYMBOL IN A SEQUENCE - E.G.AN ELEMENT CAPABLE OF DISPLAYING TEN DIFFERENT DIGITS MAY BE USED FOR DISPLAYING DECIMAL NUMBERS.EACH INDICATING ELEMENT ACCORDING TO THIS PATENT IS FORMED BY A DECK OF SYMBOL PLATES EVERY TWO OF THEM BEING SEPARATED BY AN INTERPOSED SEPARATION PLATE.THE PLATES ARE ALL TRANSPARENT.SYMBOL PLATES DIFFER IN HAVING CUT-OUT GROOVES, THE VISIBLE PART OF WHICH (IN THE CENTRE OF THE PLATE, THE PERIPHERAL PART BEING COVERED BY A MASK) HAS A FORM OF THE DISPLAYED SYMBOL.THE GROOVE, COVERED ON BOTH SIDES BY THE SEPARATION PLATES, FORMS A CHANNEL, ONE PART OF WHICH IS FILLED BY AN INDEXING LIQUID (MERCURY WAS USED IN TESTS AS IT HAS PERFECT OPACITY EVEN IN VERY THIN LAYERS AND DOES NOT WET THE MATERIAL OF THE PLATES THUS LEAVING NO TRACES ON CHANNEL WALLS) WHILE ANOTHER PART OF THE CHANNEL IS FILLED WITH TRANSPARENT LIQUID IMMISCIBLE WITH THE INDEXING ONE AND PREFERABLY HAVING A LIGHT REFRACTION INDEX VERY CLOSE TO THAT OF THE MATERIAL OF PLATES.ONE END OF EACH CHANNEL IS CONNECTED TO ONE OF A NUMBER OF INPUTS OF THE DISPLAY ELEMENT.THE OTHER CLOSED END FORMS A GAS CUSHION.AN INCOMING FLUIDIC PRESSURE SIGNAL (ACTING IN ONLY ONE INPUT FROM THE NUMBER OF INPUTS OF AN ELEMENT) ACHIEVES COMPRESSION OF THE GAS CUSHION - THE LIQUID COLUMNS THEN MOVE SO THAT THE INDEXING LIQUID IN THE CORRESPONDING CHANNEL ENTERS THE UNMASKED, OBSERVABLE PART OF THE SYMBOL PLATE.SINCE IN THE SYMBOL GROOVES OF THE OTHER SYMBOL PLATES OF THE ELEMENT THERE IS A TRANSPARENT LIQUID, THEY ARE NOT DISCERNIBLE; ONLY THE SYMBOL IN THE PLATE IN WHICH THE INPUT SIGNAL IS ACTING CAN BE SEEN.WHEN THE INPUT SIGNAL CEASES, THE GAS PRESSURE EXPELS THE INDEXING LIQUID FROM THE VISIBLE PART OF THE GROOVE, THUS RESTORING THE ORIGINAL STATE WITH THE WHOLE DECK TRANSPARENT.THE PATENT ALSO MENTIONS A NUMBER OF OTHER SIMILAR ARRANGEMENTS DIFFERING IN THE ORDER OF INDEXING AND TRANSPARENT LIQUIDS IN THE GROOVE, THE METHOD OF EXPELLING INDEXING LIQUID FROM THE VISIBLE PART OF THE GROOVE, ARRANGEMENTS OF INTERNAL CAVITIES, USE OF TRANSPARENT MEMBRANES FROM POLYETHYLENE FOR SEPARATION OF THE INDEXING LIQUID, ETC.(V.T.).

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