A Simplified Automatic Data Plotter

The problem of converting raw data into a usable form for analysis has been one of long standing. Data recorders and plotters are of many types, and specific designs have been achieved to meet specific requirements. However, in most plotting and recording devices the printed grid is of some fixed nature and usually linear or logarithmic. If the plotting grid is not preprinted, some calibration technique must be applied to the plotted trace to determine the data values. In the data plotter to be described the function grids are produced simultaneously with the data trace, and may be made to conform with the transfer function of the system, whether linear or non-linear, and with the prescribed scale factor. Thus any arbitrary function may be plotted automatically without the requirement of linearity corrections in reading, provided the transfer characteristics are known beforehand.