Digital display apparatus

Claim 1

In a digital display apparatus of the type having a plurality of display drums, each of said display drums being provided with a plurality of display digits impressed one below the other around the peripheral surface thereof, said drums being loosely mounted on a shaft, means whereby the rotation of a display drum of a lower order of magnitude is transmitted to another display drum of an upper order of magnitude through shift pinions interposed between adjacent display drums, the improvement wherein the display digits on each display drum are substantially equal sized, discrete and inclined in the same direction and by the same angle from a plane perpendicular to the central axis of said shaft such that a substantial portion of the lower portion of one display digit and a substantial portion of the upper portion of a sub-adjacent display digit are adjacent to each other along the axial direction of said shaft and wherein a front plate is provided in front of said display drums, said front plate being provided with a plurality of apertures or read windows equal in number to said plurality of display drums, each of said windows being so shaped as to expose only one display digit of its associated display drum, whereby the drum diameter can be reduced without a corresponding reduction in display digit size.