Abstract: Microprocessor controlled flow metering apparatus employs mechanically coupled registers driven by a positive displacement or other flow meter to display fluid volume dispensed during a monitored transaction--and as a cumulative total over time. User adjustable electrical switch decades electrically enter computational scale factor variables such as price per gallon and tax rate.The stored program controlled microprocessor computes all desired output variables (fuel cost, tax)--and outputs the variables in predesignated fields onto a printed ticket (invoice) while controlling printer carriage movement and solenoid actuation. In accordance with varying aspects of the invention, mechanical and software security is provided to ensure proper correlation between customer fluid (e.g., fuel) receipt and billing.

Abstract: A position encoder has a plurality of measured value embodying carriers mechanically coupled so that those of lower position value drive those of higher position value. The carriers contain encoding step markings (n,m) in which n is the number of encoding step markings per position and m is a whole, even number. For a decade encoder, n equals 10 and m equals 2.