E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Cubic Productron Inc.

Xonics, Inc.

Productron, Inc.

Gunter Schmidt

A chest X-ray unit is provided which is of compact design and which can be easily utilized. The apparatus includes an exposure station at the front where a film sheet can be tightly held between a pair of intensifier screens, a supply station behind the exposure station for receiving a film cassette and feeding one sheet at a time into the exposure station, and a receiving cassette at the back of the apparatus for receiving one exposed sheet at a time for later developing. A film sheet is moved in a loop from the supply cassette to the exposure station by a pair of input rollers that move the sheet upwardly into a curved guide that extends in a half circle, and by a pair of output rollers at the end of the loop for feeding the sheet downwardly. The output rollers move slightly faster than the input rollers to prevent the middle of the film sheet from scraping against the guide. A feedout roller which feeds a sheet out of the supply cassette into the input rollers, is coupled through an overrunning clutch to a motor, so that the feedout roller can move a sheet upwardly until it is caught between the input rollers, and the input rollers then can pull the sheet slightly faster than it is moved by the feedout roller. The film dropping between the intensifier screen members is caught by a pin that is later jerked upwardly as it is withdrawn.

Compact X-ray unit

Apparatus for dispensing X-ray film sheets includes a backing device disposed in a housing for urging a stack of film sheets into engagement with a roller so that film sheets pass one at a time from the housing. The backing device includes a low friction block at the bottom thereof which has fingers extending through slots in a support plate. A forward portion of the low friction block which moves close to the roller to press a last film of the stack against the roller.

X-Ray film dispensing apparatus

Apparatus for use in taking chest or other X-rays, including a dispenser for the dispensing of one film sheet at a time and a film holder which receives the film sheet and holds it tightly between intensifier screens and which then releases the film sheet for developing. The film sheet and intensifier screens are sandwiched between a backing plate and a plastic sheet. An elongated vertical pressing device can be moved against the middle of the backing plate to deflect it into a curve and thereby cause the film sheet to be held tightly against the intensifier screens.

X-ray unit

Apparatus for loading a single sheet of X-ray film into a cassette, from a plastic lighttight envelope containing a stack of such sheets, all in a daylight environment. A receiver for holding the envelope containing the sheets includes a clip at the top that holds one end of the envelope and a groove at the bottom into which the lower end of the envelope can be laid. A rod lies in the groove over the envelope, so that when the lower envelope end is cut, no light leaks in. However, when the receiver is placed on a dispenser, the rod can be withdrawn from outside the receiver to open the envelope and allow the stack of film to fall out into the dispenser which can feed one sheet at a time into the cassette. The cassette lies in a pivotally mounted cassette-holding housing that has a light seal at the top so that, when the housing pivots under the dispenser, the apparatus is sealed against light and, when the housing pivots away from the dispenser, the cassette can pop up and be withdrawn through the top of the housing.

X-ray film loader

Apparatus for opening a cassette, of the type which carries a sheet of X-ray film, to allow the film to move into processing equipment, without requiring a darkroom. The apparatus includes a lighttight housing containing inclined guides for receiving the cassette, and pins at the bottom of the space between the guides, that can engage latches on the cassette to open it. The cassette is forced against the pins by a cover on the housing, which pushes on the cassette as the cover approaches its fully closed position, so the pins unlatch the cassette which opens to allow the film sheet to drop out.

Cassette unloader

Apparatus for engaging and moving a film strip through a light-tight processor having tanks of processing chemicals, including a film clip which fastens to the front of the film and which has a rearwardly-facing opening, and a pickup member which enters the opening in the film clip to drag it and the film strip through the tanks of chemicals.

Transport mechanism for a photographic film processor

A film processor of the type which includes a sheet transport having a finger pushing the rear edge of the film sheet while edge guides guide the edges of the film along a path that leads down into each of a series of tanks and up out of each tank in a loop over to the next tank, including a loop guide at the end of each loop for guiding the middle of the film sheet around the loop. The loop guide includes a pair of guide plates lying near the center of the film path on either side of a finger-moving belt, each plate having a concave surface extending along the radially outside portion of a loop to guide the leading edge of a film sheet which tends to bow outwardly as the sheet moves along a curve.

Sheet film processor

A system for enabling X-ray films, of the type primarily used in the dental and medical fields, to be handled in daylight for exposure to X-rays. The system utilizes identical film sheets emulsion coated on one or both faces, each sheet having a notch, displaced from the sheet center line, formed in one edge thereof. A stack of sheets is packed in an opaque envelope with the sheets being alternated so that all of the notches lie along a common stack edge arranged in two parallel rows, the notches in adjacent sheets lying in different rows. The system includes a light tight dispenser which receives the envelope and is capable of being operated to strip the envelope from the film sheet stack. The dispenser includes a pair of rotatable selector cams, each aligned with a different row of notches. A spring mounted back-up plate urges the film sheet stack against the selector cams with the two selector cams respectively bearing against notched and unnotched portions of the top sheet. Means are provided for alternately rotating the two cams so as to successively release the top sheet from the stack into a cassette removably engaged with the dispenser. The cassette includes parallel screens normally spring urged together in light tight relationship when disengaged from the dispenser. Engagement of the cassette with the dispenser in light tight relationship urges the screen plates apart to enable the released film sheet to fall therebetween. The cassette in turn operatively cooperates with a processor to enable the film sheet therein to be transferred to the processor.

Daylight film handling system

A reliable machine for developing film, which minimizes the possibility of damage to the film surface and which provides close control of processing conditions. A film strip is pulled by a detachable member attached at the front end of the strip, and is guided along the machine by rollers spaced along the film path, with each roller having a film-supporting surface at each end and a wide cutaway portion between the film-supporting surfaces so that each roller touches only edge portions of the film. Chemicals in the tank are replenished by a system which includes a plunger that moves down into the tank to cause some of the chemicals to overflow into a drain and which then moves up out of the tank to lower the fluid level therein, and a bottle with an open lower end which supplies chemicals to restore the fluid to its original level.

Growing community of inventors

Malibu, CA, United States of America

Gunter Schmidt