Patent GB-336804-A (GB)
Abstract: 336,804. British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd. (Victor X-Ray Corporation). April 30, 1929. R÷ntgen-ray apparatus. - A highcapacity oil-immersed X-ray tube unit and a fluorescent screen are mounted on a structure carried by floor rails so as to be capable of universal adjustment either above or below a tilting operating-table or in conjunction with an associated vertical panel, the table top and panel being trans. parent to X-rays. Provision is made for using the apparatus for stereoscopic radiography, and for locking together the carriers of the tube and screen for simultaneous vertical adjustment. The base of the tube unit support is of large area, so that the centre of gravity of the unit in all positions of adjustment lies vertically above the area of support. Operating-table. As shown in elevation in Figs. 1 and 4 and in plan in Fig. 12, the operating-table 28, 29, 30 is tiltably supported on trunnions 26, 27 on a frame 20, its angle of inclination being adjustable by a hand-crank 44 acting through bevel and worm gearing on a toothed quadrant turning on the trunnion axis. Upon the table top is slidably mounted a combination seat and head-rest 45, with provision for locking it in adjusted position. Tube unit and support. On the floor adjacent to the table, and pivotally connected to the frame of the table so as to allow for lack of floor level, is a rail-frame comprising cross-tied rails 51, 52 supported on adjustable feet, and provided with end buffer springs 61. Mounted on rollers on the rails is a frame which supports two vertical pillars 72 and comprises two parts relatively adjustable by means of an eccentric stud connection in order to provide squareness of the pillars with respect to the floor in a direction transverse to the table top. The frame may be clamped in any position along the rails by a friction lock 80 actuated, through a rod 78 and cam 77, by a hand lever 75. The pillars 72 are connected by a tie 81 carrying pulleys 83 over which pass cables 86 connecting counterweights housed within the pillars to the tube carrierframe, which comprises cross-tied sleeves 87 carrying rollers 88 bearing against the pillars 72, and provided with extensions 91 supporting hori. zontal cross-tied rails 92. A device 318 is provided for locking the carrier-frame to the supporting pillar. Mounted on rollers engaging above and below the rails 92 is a. frame 94 to which is pivoted, on an horizontal bearing 101, a fork 103 which has frictional pivots at the ends of its arms for supporting a container 111 which encloses the ray-tube and its energizing apparatus. The bearing 101 may be tightened to lock the fork 103 in any position. For clamping the frame 94 to the rails 92, a hand-operated locking-device is provided, which embodies also means for permitting at will a limited movement of the frame 94 when the tube is used for stereoscopic work. Adjustable buffers are provided on the rails 92 to limit the travel of the frame 94 when it is displaced to one side of the table prior to moving the tube until below the table. A scale 119 on the container 111 co-operates with an index 118 on a member secured to the fork 103, whereby the container may be angularly set relatively to the fork; and a detent device is associated with the scale for arresting the container in position for either horizontal or vertical work. All the electric conductors leading to the container 111 from a control stand 130 are enclosed in a cable 128. Mounted in front of the window 127 of the container 111 is a dia.- phragm 160 provided with an extension 161 to which an auxiliary removable operating handle 162 may be attached. Screen holder. A fluorescent screen 264, Figs. 1 and 4, with a lead glass cover is mounted in a frame 261 which has shielded handles 263 and is pivotally suspended in a fork 257 rotatable on a vertical frictional pivot 243 at the end of pivotally-connected arms 241, 240 supported by a sleeve 226 displaceable vertically on one of the pillars 72 on rollers 238, and connected by a cable passing over a pulley 234, to a counterweight housed in a tube 232. Rollers 230 on the sleeve bear against this tube and prevent rotation of the sleeve. The carriers of the tube unit and screen may be locked together for vertical movement by a hooked lever 319 pivoted on the sleeve 87 and adapted to engage a button 324 on the sleeve 226. Vertical panel. At one end of the apparatus stands a vertical panel 266 for fluoroscopy, and behind it is adjustably mounted a patient's support similar to the support 45 on the table 30. A single interchangeable support may serve for both table and panel. The screen-frame 261 may be locked to the panel at any desired distance from the patient by means of a rod 296 which is slidable vertically on the panel and may be clamped thereto in any position, and which is adapted to engage and be clamped in a socket 297 on the screen-frame 261 when this has been swung round on its arms 240, 241 to the opposite side of the panel to that which it occupies in Fig. 1. When the screen is so fixed, the locking-lever 319 is disengaged, so that the tube may be displaced independently of the screen. In order to permit movement of the tube unit from beneath the table into position adjacent to the vertical panel, the end frame 21 of the table support 20 is U-shaped as shown in Fig. 4, so that it is open on the side adjacent to the pillars 72.