Patent GB-862920-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in apparatus for measuring the intraocular or tonometric pressure of aneye
Inventor: PAPRITZ FRANZ
IPC: A61B3/16
Filed: 1957-06-29
Abstract: 862,920. Tonometers. HAAG-STREIT A.G. June 29, 1957, No. 20619/57. Class 81 (2). A tonometer comprises a planar eye-contacting piece 41, calibrated adjustable force applying means for urging the eye-contacting piece against the eye and optical means including the eye-contacting piece for setting the contact area between the eyeball and the eye-contacting piece to a predetermined value within the range of 2.7 to 4 mm. diameter so that the force applying the eye-contacting piece to the eyeball is a measure of the tonometric pressure. The tonometer includes a block 9 which is mounted between plates 1, 2 and which supports a shaft 5 on which a lever with two arms 6, 8 is pivoted. One lever arm 6 projects from the tonometer casing and carries at its free end the eye-contacting piece and the other lever arm 8 has at its free end a ball bearing 15. The swing of the projecting lever arm 6 is limited by a fixed stop 12 and a spring-loaded stop 13 carried in a shell 11. The ball bearing 15 co-operates with a horizontal pin 16 on a vertical arm 17 of a weight lever which is pivoted on a horizontal shaft 18 and has a horizontal arm 20 on which a weight 19 is horizontally adjustable. The horizontal shaft 18 is mounted in a support 22 which is pivoted about a vertical shaft 23 mounted in the block 9 and carries an arm 24, the free end of which carries a ball bearing 25. The ball bearing 25 is movable in a horizontal groove 26 in a slide block 27 in the block 9. The slide block 27 is horizontally displaceable by a spindle 31 having a helical groove 32 engaged by a projection fixed to the slide block 27. The spindle 31 is rotated by turning a knob 33, a graduated disc 34 attached to the spindle 31 giving a measure of the amount of rotation. At its free end the projecting lever arm 6 carries a tube 38 one end of which contains the eye-contacting piece which comprises a transparent body 40 having a plane surface 41 which is applied to the eye and oppositely inclined plane faces 42, 43. A transparent disc 39 seals the other end of the tube 38. In use, the body 40 is placed against the cornea of the eye being tested. The position of the slide block 27 is then adjusted by rotating the spindle 31 so that the weight 19 and the weight lever are moved until the pin 16 bears against the ball bearing 15 of the lever arm 8 in a direction passing through the pivot shaft 5, no pressure then being applied to the eye. The slide block is then moved by the spindle 31 so that through the arm 24 the weight 19 is moved about the vertical shaft 23, thus displacing the pin 16 and causing it to transmit pressure through the lever arms 6, 8 and the body 40 to the eye. Increased displacement of the slide block 27 increases the pressure applied to the eye. The circular area of the cornea which is flattened by the body 40 is viewed through the body 40, the transparent disc 39 and a microscope to which the tonometer is attached. The dimensions of the body 40 and its inclined faces 42, 43 are such that the periphery of the flattened area of the cornea is seen through the microscope as two semicircles displaced from one another. The pressure applied is increased until the displacement of the semicircles is equal to their diameter and the graduated disc 34 is so calibrated that it then gives a measure of the intraocular pressure.