US 4,115,861 AGranted

Chemical analyzer

AssigneeInstrumentation Specialties Company

InventorRobert William Allington

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Abstract

To control a chemical analyzer, a program counter sequentially energizes the row conductors of a bus-bus type program card, with the columns being connected to a command interpreter prearranged to distinguish between commands not requiring a data input and commands that require a data input. Commands requiring a data input automatically permit sequencing to the next command which is a data readout while inhibiting the outputs from the conductors that provide commands for operations not requiring data such as the operations of raising and lowering pipettes or moving chemical receptacles one position. The data is read through a decoder while the sequencing is temporarily inhibited and the command outputs are inhibited. An additional command is provided by a direct signal from the program counter with no conductive connection between the rows and columns of the program card.

Claims19

Dependent claims

Automatic apparatus comprising:

at least one actuator of a first type having first and second discrete states;
at least one actuator of a second type controllable across a range of states;
means adapted to replaceably hold a program;
said program having first and second types of instructions;
said first type of instruction including a command and said second type of instruction including a command and data;
sequencing means for sequencing to different instructions of said program;
first execution means connected to receive said first type of instructions for energizing actuators of said first type having first and second discrete states in response to said first instruction;
second execution means connected to receive said steps instructions of said second type for energizing actuators of said second type controllable across a range of states;
data means for controlling the particular state in said range of states of said actuators of said second type in response to said data;
and
time delay means for delaying sequencing of said sequencing means after an instruction of said first type until said actuator of said first type has reached a predetermined state;
and
said sequencing means including means for sequencing to data in said program after a command of said second type.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.