A ripple counter, properly known as an asynchronous counter, is a cascade of digital registering units. Each one of which relies on the output of the one before it, except, of course, the first one in the chain. Since this chip is a 4 bit counter, it consists of 4 independent latch circuits which are daisy-chained together. While fine in ordinary digital clocks, ripply counters can cause glitchy results when used in precision instruments to the delay in updating the full chain of registers.

The 7493 can be wired for various modes of operations, including the full four bit mode (0-15 in decimal) and also shorter counts such as 0-7 or 0-3 etc... This configurability allows the device to be suited in a wide variety of different areas such as frequency dividers and special control applications.

Multiple 7493s can be configured together to provide greater counting lengths and more division possibilites. Keep in mind that some configurations may require additional external circuitry to properly chain them together. One potential reason for this is due to the nature of a ripple counter, since extraordinarily long sequences can accumulate unacceptable propogation delays which can introduce glitches in the finished design.