Patent ID: 7391044

Claim:
A movable-component linear drive apparatus, comprising: an endless member in the form of rope or belt; a pair of tensioning means for tensioning the endless member; a movable component affixed to the endless member; a counterweight affixed to the endless member at a portion diagonally opposite to the portion, to which the movable component is affixed, with respect to the center axis of the endless member; damping means for imparting a bias load to the counterweight in the direction perpendicular to the tensioning direction of a part of the endless member adjacent to the counterweight; driving means for linearly driving the movable component in the same direction as the tensioning direction of a part of the endless member adjacent to the movable-component; a radiation image recording medium in which a radiation image is recorded upon exposure to radiation bearing the radiation image and from which the radiation image recorded therein is read out as a signal by scanning the radiation image recording medium with reading light; and a light source which is integrally attached to the movable component and emits linear reading light that extends in the direction perpendicular to the linearly moving direction of the movable component.