Improvements in and relating to electronic apparatus for reading symbols

860,568. Automatic character - reading. SOLARTRON ELECTRONIC GROUP Ltd. June 27, 1958 [July 4, 1957], No. 21232/57. Class 106 (1). In an automatic character-reading device there are a number of separate character-scanning devices 10a, 10b, 10c and a central control-station containing storage means, and a recognition matrix, and switching means are provided to select a channel from any one of the scanning devices for storing and decoding signals derived thereby. Sensing.-The scanning devices can be in the form of cathode-ray tubes to which are applied deflection voltages to cause the beam to scan the character in a series of ten parallel lines. In the form of Fig. 3 the character 21 is imaged on the screen of a television camera tube 26 and is scanned by means of the time bases 107, the output on line 15 being amplified and applied to the write gun of a storage tube 103, plates 104 supplied by time bases 107 serving to record the character image on the screen of the tube. The character image is scanned by the reading beam from electrode 105 which caused by time bases 14 applied to plates 106 to make scans over the character image to produce an output from grid 108. The image may be scanned several times to eliminate errors due to imperfect printing or positioning, e.g. as in Specification 850,581. The switches 12 and 16, Fig. 1, are controlled through a device 18 by control signals on leads 19a-19c to connect the desired scanning device to the time bases 14 to cause scanning and to connect the corresponding output line 15a-15c through the clipper 17 in parallel to diode gates 28. Lines 33 are pulsed in sequence in synchronism with the scanning signals and when there is coincidence between pulses on the lines 33 and diodes 28 outputs on lines 29 set flip-flops 30 of which there are a hundred corresponding to ten sampling points on each of ten scans. Each flip-flop has a pair of outputs, one of which has a signal and these are connected in empirical combinations with a series of ten vertical output lines 39. The connection units 40 may be as described in Specification 850,582. A signal produced on the line 39 representing the character sensed passes via a terminal block 41 or a decimal-binary encoder and a switch 43 to a utilization device. The scanning waveforms may be such as to cause the scanning raster to advance from one character to the next in successive scans. Alternatively the character may move relative to the sensing device. In another form the sca