Positioning device including means for dividing intervals into preselected numbers of equal parts

Claim 1

IN A DEVICE FOR DIVIDING ANY GIVEN DIMENSION ON A PIECE OF WORK INTO ANY SELECTED NUMBER OF EQUAL PARTS, THE COMBINATION OF A SOURCE OF REFERENCE VOLTAGE, A FIRST UNIT ENERGIZED BY SAID REFERENCE VOLTAGE FOR PROVIDING A FIRST PERSELECTED VOLTAGE WHICH IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN A FIRST DATUM POINT AND ONE END OF SAID DIMENSION, A SECOND UNIT ENERGIZED BY SAID REFERENCE VOLTAGE FOR PROVIDING A SECOND PRESELECTED VOLTAGE WHICH IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN A SECOND DATUM POINT AND THE OTHER END OF SAID DIMENSION, A TRANSFORMER HAVING A WINDING WITH A PLURALITY OF EQUALLY SPACED VOLTAGE TAPS THEREON, SWITCH MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY CONNECTING SAID PRESELECTED VOLTAGES ACROSS A NUMBER OF TAPS ON THE TRANSFORMER WINDING EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF PARTS SELECTED, A SLIDER MOVABLE FROM ONE TAP TO THE NEXT SERIATIM, AND A SERVOMECHANISM FOR MOVING THE WORKPIECE THROUGH DISTANCES PROPORTIONAL TO THE VOLTAGES DERIVED FROM SAID UNITS AND FROM SAID TAPS BY THE SLIDER, SAID SERVOMECHANISM INCLUDING A FEEDBACK UNIT ENERGIZED FROM SAID SOURCE, MEANS FOR DRIVING THE FEEDBACK UNIT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MOVEMENT OF THE WORKPIECE TO PROVIDE A FEEDBACK VOLTAGE WHICH IS LINEARLY RELATED TO THE MOVEMENT OF THE WORKPIECE AND WHICH IS EQUAL TO THE REFERENCE VOLTAGE WHEN THE WORKPIECE MOVES FROM SAID FIRST DATUM POINT TO SAID SECOND DATUM POINT.