Fiber optic scanning apparatus

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR TRANSDUCING VARIATIONS IN A RADIATION CHARACTERISTIC OF A RECORD MEDIUM TO VARYING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A FIBER OPTIC CIRCLE-TO-LINE SHAPE TRANSDUCER, MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING THE RECORD MEDIUM PAST THE LINE END OF THE SHAPE TRANSDUCER AND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY THERETO, SCANNING DISC MEANS ADAPTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT THE AXIS OF THE CIRCULAR END OF THE SHAPE TRANSDUCER, RADIATION DISTRIBUTING FIBER OPTIC MEANS SECURED TO THE SCANNING DISC MEANS AND TRAVERSING A PATH THEREON EXTENDING RADIALLY FROM THE AXIS OF ROTATION TO A POINT ALINED WITH THE OPTICAL FIBERS AT THE CIRCLE END OF THE SHAPE TRANSDUCER, MOTOR MEANS FOR ROTATING THE SCANNING DISC MEANS, A RADIATION SOURCE POSITIONED TO DIRECT RADIATION UPON THE AXIAL END OF THE ROTATING RADIATION DISTRIBUTING FIBER OPTIC MEANS TO THEREBY EFFECT A CYCLICAL LINE SCAN OF THE RECORD MEDIUM WITH RADIATION FROM THE RADIATION SOURCE, REFLECTOR MEANS POSITIONED PARALLEL AND ADJACENT TO THE RECORD MEDIUM ON THE SIDE OPPOSITE THE SHAPE TRANSDUCER TO REFLECT MODULATED RADIATION PASSED THROUGH THE RECORD MEDIUM BACK THROUGH SAID RECORD MEDIUM, RADIATION BEAM SPLITTING MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE RADIATION SOURCE AND THE RADIATION DISTRIBUTING FIBER OPTIC MEANS, AND RADIATION DETECTOR MEANS POSITIONED TO RECEIVE MODULATED RADIATION REFLECTED THEREON BY THE BEAM SPLITTER MEANS AND ADAPTED TO GENERATE ELECTRICAL SIGNALS VARYING IN ACCORDANCE WITH VARIATIONS IN THE RADIATION CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RECORD MEDIUM.