US3784818A — Scintillation scanner with remote control aperture

Claim 1

Independent Claim 308 words

A scintillation scanner comprising: a. a frame structure and a boom structure movably carried by said frame structure; b. signal emitting means carried by said boom structure for producing a signal in response to incident radiation stimuli aNd including a scintillation producing mechanism for receiving incident radiation stimuli and a signal producing mechanism for providing an output signal in response to scintillations occurring in said scintillation producing mechanism; c. a drive assembly interposed between said structures for effecting relative movement of said structures along a preselected drive path; d. media support means carried by one of said structures and adapted to receive and support an image producing media; e. media stimulating means carried by the other of said structures and operably connected to said signal emitting means for stimulating a media carried by said media support means in response to signals from said signal emitting means; f. said media stimulating means including: i. a light source for projecting a beam of light along a path; ii. beam delineating means positioned in the beam path for delineating the beam perimeter to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations; iii. said beam delineating means comprising an apertured member positioned to intersect the beam path at substantially right angles thereto, and defining a plurality of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough; iv. said apertures being of different dimensional configurations for delineating the beam perimeter selectively to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations; v. said apertured member being movable transversely of the beam path to selectively position said apertures one at a time within the beam path to delineate the beam perimeter; and vi. positioning means coupled to said apertured member for moving said apertured member transversely of the beam path between selected positions wherein selected ones of said apertures are positioned one at a time in the beam path.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 308 words

A scintillation scanner comprising: a. a frame structure and a boom structure movably carried by said frame structure; b. signal emitting means carried by said boom structure for producing a signal in response to incident radiation stimuli aNd including a scintillation producing mechanism for receiving incident radiation stimuli and a signal producing mechanism for providing an output signal in response to scintillations occurring in said scintillation producing mechanism; c. a drive assembly interposed between said structures for effecting relative movement of said structures along a preselected drive path; d. media support means carried by one of said structures and adapted to receive and support an image producing media; e. media stimulating means carried by the other of said structures and operably connected to said signal emitting means for stimulating a media carried by said media support means in response to signals from said signal emitting means; f. said media stimulating means including: i. a light source for projecting a beam of light along a path; ii. beam delineating means positioned in the beam path for delineating the beam perimeter to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations; iii. said beam delineating means comprising an apertured member positioned to intersect the beam path at substantially right angles thereto, and defining a plurality of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough; iv. said apertures being of different dimensional configurations for delineating the beam perimeter selectively to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations; v. said apertured member being movable transversely of the beam path to selectively position said apertures one at a time within the beam path to delineate the beam perimeter; and vi. positioning means coupled to said apertured member for moving said apertured member transversely of the beam path between selected positions wherein selected ones of said apertures are positioned one at a time in the beam path.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 96 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 1 wherein: a. said media stimulating means further includes mounting means mounting said apertured member for movement between first and second positions along a path of movement intersecting the beam path; b. said apertures include first and second apertures of differing dimensional configuration located at spaced positions along said path of movement; c. said first aperture being aligned with the beam path when said apertured member is in said first position; and, d. said second aperture being aligned with the beam path when said apertured member is in said second position.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 34 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 2 wherein said mounting means confines the movement of said apertured member relative to the beam path to a rectilinear path of movement between said first and second positions.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 84 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 2 wherein: a. said apertures further include third and fourth spaced apertures, neither of which are brought into alignment with the beam path as said apertured member is moved along said path of movement; and b. said apertured member is repositionable on said mounting means and said mounting means is adapted to movably mount said repositioned apertured member for movement between positions wherein said third and fourth apertures are selectively positioned one at a time in the beam path.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 72 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 1 wherein selected ones of said apertures differ in dimensional width in directions transverse to the directions of the scan paths defined by said drive path, whereby a substantially complete exposure of said media can be achieved with controlled image overlap regardless of the spacing between adjacent scan paths by selecting an aperture having a dimensional width which corresponds to the particular scan path spacing being used.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 65 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 1 wherein selected ones of said apertures differ in dimensional length in directions paralleling the direction of the scan paths defined by said drive path, whereby a substantially complete exposure of said media can be achieved with controlled image overlap regardless of the scan Speed by selecting an aperture having a dimensional width which is correlated to the scan speed.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 301 words

In a scintillation scanner of the type including a frame structure, a boom structure movably carried by the frame structure, a drive means interposed between the boom structure and the frame structure for moving the boom structure relative to the frame structure along a drive path including spaced scan paths, a signal emitting means carried by the boom structure for producing signals in response to incident radiation stimuli, a media support device carried by one of the structures for receiving and supporting an image producing media, and a media stimulating device carried by the other structure and including a light source operably connected to the signal emitting means for directing a beam of light along a beam path toward a media carried by the media support device to effect exposure of selected portions of the media in response to signals emitted by the signal emitting means, the improvement comprisng a beam delineation mechanism interposed between the light source and the media for delineating the dimensional configuration of the beam to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations, said beam delineation mechaism comprising a member having a plurality of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough, said member being movable relative to the beam path to delineate the beam, selected ones of said apertures when in the beam path having dimensional widths which differ in directions transverse to the direction of the scan path then being traversed, whereby a substantially complete exposure of the media can be made with controlled image overlap regardless of the spacing which is being used between adjacent scan paths, by selecting an aperture having a dimensional width which is correlated to the scan path spacing being used, dimensionally wider apertures being used with wider scan path spacings and dimensionally narrower apertures being used with narrower scan path spacings.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 301 words

In a scintillation scanner of the type including a frame structure, a boom structure movably carried by the frame structure, a drive means interposed between the boom structure and the frame structure for moving the boom structure relative to the frame structure along a drive path including spaced scan paths, a signal emitting means carried by the boom structure for producing signals in response to incident radiation stimuli, a media support device carried by one of the structures for receiving and supporting an image producing media, and a media stimulating device carried by the other structure and including a light source operably connected to the signal emitting means for directing a beam of light along a beam path toward a media carried by the media support device to effect exposure of selected portions of the media in response to signals emitted by the signal emitting means, the improvement comprisng a beam delineation mechanism interposed between the light source and the media for delineating the dimensional configuration of the beam to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations, said beam delineation mechaism comprising a member having a plurality of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough, said member being movable relative to the beam path to delineate the beam, selected ones of said apertures when in the beam path having dimensional widths which differ in directions transverse to the direction of the scan path then being traversed, whereby a substantially complete exposure of the media can be made with controlled image overlap regardless of the spacing which is being used between adjacent scan paths, by selecting an aperture having a dimensional width which is correlated to the scan path spacing being used, dimensionally wider apertures being used with wider scan path spacings and dimensionally narrower apertures being used with narrower scan path spacings.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 315 words

In a scintillation scanner of the type including a frame structure, a boom structure movably carried by the frame structure, a drive means interposed between the boom structure and the frame structure for moving the boom structure relative to the frame structure at a desired speed along a drive path including spaced scan paths, a signal emitting means carried by the boom structure for producing signals at constant predetermined intervals of time in respone to incident radiation stimuli, a media support device carried by one of the structures for receiving and supporting an image producing media, and a media stimulating device carried by the other structure and including a light source operably connected to the signal emitting means for directing a beam of light along a beam path toward a media carried by the media support device to effect exposure of selected portions of the media in response to signals emitted by the signal emitting means, the improvement comprising a beam delineation mechanism interposed between the light source and the media for delineating the dimensional configuration of the beam to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations, said beam delineation mechanism comprising a member having a plurality of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough, said member being movable relative to the beam path to selectively position said apertures one at a time in the beam path to delineate the beam, selected ones of said apertures when positioned in the beam path having dimensional lengths which differ in directions paralleling the direction of the scan path then being traversed, whereby a substantially complete exposure of the media can be made with controlled image overlap regardless of the selected scan speed, by selecting an aperture having a dimensional length which is correlated to the scan speed being used, dimensionally longer apertures being used with faster scan speeds and dimensionally shorter apertures being used with slower scan speeds.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 315 words

In a scintillation scanner of the type including a frame structure, a boom structure movably carried by the frame structure, a drive means interposed between the boom structure and the frame structure for moving the boom structure relative to the frame structure at a desired speed along a drive path including spaced scan paths, a signal emitting means carried by the boom structure for producing signals at constant predetermined intervals of time in respone to incident radiation stimuli, a media support device carried by one of the structures for receiving and supporting an image producing media, and a media stimulating device carried by the other structure and including a light source operably connected to the signal emitting means for directing a beam of light along a beam path toward a media carried by the media support device to effect exposure of selected portions of the media in response to signals emitted by the signal emitting means, the improvement comprising a beam delineation mechanism interposed between the light source and the media for delineating the dimensional configuration of the beam to one of a plurality of preselected dimensional configurations, said beam delineation mechanism comprising a member having a plurality of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough, said member being movable relative to the beam path to selectively position said apertures one at a time in the beam path to delineate the beam, selected ones of said apertures when positioned in the beam path having dimensional lengths which differ in directions paralleling the direction of the scan path then being traversed, whereby a substantially complete exposure of the media can be made with controlled image overlap regardless of the selected scan speed, by selecting an aperture having a dimensional length which is correlated to the scan speed being used, dimensionally longer apertures being used with faster scan speeds and dimensionally shorter apertures being used with slower scan speeds.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 218 words

A scintillation scanning device comprising: a. a housing and frame structure; b. a scan boom movably supported by said housing and frame structure; c. reciprocal drive means carried in said housing and operably connected to said boom to drive said boom reciprocally in a longitudinal scanning path; d. transverse drive means carried in said housing and operably connected to said boom to move said boom transversely in a scan indexing path; e. scintillation responsive signal emitting means carried by said boom; f. an image device support means carried by said boom, said image device support means being adjustably movable relative to said boom in directions paralleling the path of said longitudinal movement of said boom; g. visual image record producing means carried by said image device support means; h. said visual image device including adjustable means for varying the size of the image produced, comprising an apertured member having at least two groups of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough and disposed along spaced parallel paths; i. said apertures being of different dimensional configurations one from another; j. said apetured member being positionable in a first orientation to selectively align the apertures of one group with said light beam, and being positionable in a second orientation to selectively align the apertures of the other group with said light beam.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 218 words

A scintillation scanning device comprising: a. a housing and frame structure; b. a scan boom movably supported by said housing and frame structure; c. reciprocal drive means carried in said housing and operably connected to said boom to drive said boom reciprocally in a longitudinal scanning path; d. transverse drive means carried in said housing and operably connected to said boom to move said boom transversely in a scan indexing path; e. scintillation responsive signal emitting means carried by said boom; f. an image device support means carried by said boom, said image device support means being adjustably movable relative to said boom in directions paralleling the path of said longitudinal movement of said boom; g. visual image record producing means carried by said image device support means; h. said visual image device including adjustable means for varying the size of the image produced, comprising an apertured member having at least two groups of distinct spaced apertures formed therethrough and disposed along spaced parallel paths; i. said apertures being of different dimensional configurations one from another; j. said apetured member being positionable in a first orientation to selectively align the apertures of one group with said light beam, and being positionable in a second orientation to selectively align the apertures of the other group with said light beam.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 65 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 9 wherein the apertures have different dimensional lengths in directions paralleling the scan path but have substantially identical dimensional widths in directions transverse to the scan path, whereby the length of the image produced can be varied without changing the width of the image by selecting different ones of the apertures within a group for alignment with the beam path.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 30 words

The scintillation scanner of claim 10 wherein the apertures of one group are dimensionally wider in directions transverse to the scan path then are the apertures of the other group.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1977-01-07	1977-07-09	1978-01-08	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1981-01-07	1981-07-09	1982-01-08	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1985-01-07	1985-07-09	1986-01-08	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Scintillation scanner with remote control aperture

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