The function of basic elements in digital systems

It is shown that electronic digital calculating machinery, and systems which represent information in digital form, may in principle be constructed from an assemblage of three basic elements. These are a bistable element for the storage of a digit, a gate for controlling the flow of digits, and a diode for controlling the direction of flow of digits. The properties and use of an element which consists of a bistable element and two gates are described, and it is then shown that the functions of this element may be realized in the form of a practical vacuum tube based upon beam-deflection principles. This tube does not lend itself to the construction of a practical large-scale store, but rather to extensive use in the control and arithmetic sections of a digital machine.