Patent ID: 7368747

Claim:
A multicassette autoloader for vertically oriented storage phosphor cassettes, the autoloader having a front, back, and opposite sides, comprising: an input bin for receiving multiple vertically oriented storage phosphor cassettes stacked together in face-to-face contact such that said cassette faces face front and back; wherein each of said cassettes contains a storage phosphor which is removable from said cassette; an output bin located adjacent said input bin, said output bin having a storage phosphor read location at which a storage phosphor is removed from and replaced in a storage phosphor cassette positioned at said storage phosphor read location, and having an output region for cassettes to be subsequently removed from said output bin; and an assembly for translating a storage phosphor cassette on substantially horizontal plane in a U-shaped path from said input bin, to said storage phosphor read location in said output bin and then to said output region of said output bin for subsequent removal from said output bin, wherein the cassette translates along the U-shaped path from said input bin to said output bin in an ambient light environment.