Magazine for handling stripping foils in a particle accelerator

Claim 2

A foil assembly for insertion into a beam of charged particles to effect charge exchange in said beam, said foil assembly comprising: a foil formed of a thin film of an organic polymer, said foil having an area greater than the cross-sectional area of said beam; a first rod connected to said foil at a first edge thereof, said first rod being longer than said first edge and projecting beyond said foil at each end of said first edge to form a pair of first supporting projections; and a second rod connected to said foil at a second edge thereof opposite to said first edge, said second rod being longer than said second edge and projecting beyond said foil at each end of said second edge to form a pair of second supporting projections.

Claim 3

The foil assembly of claim 1 wherein said foil is a thermally stabilized sheet of polymerized p-xylene (poly-paraxylylene) having a thickness of 5800 A.

Claim 4

The foil assembly of claim 1 wherein said first and second supporting rods are nonferrous metal.

Claim 5

A magazine for storing and displaying a plurality of the foil assemblies of claim 1 in a particle accelerator comprising: a support frame; a pair of first shelves disposed in a plane and connected to the support frame to support said first rod, said pair of first shelves including a first edge; a pair of second shelves disposed in the plane of the first shelves and connected to the support frame to support said second rod of said stripping foil assembly, said pair of second shelves including a second edge parallel to said first edge; an indexing frame disposed in sliding engagement with saiD pairs of first and second shelves, said indexing frame including a plurality of notches forming with said pairs of first and second shelves a plurality of enclosures for stripping foil assemblies, said notches grouped into a first group and a second group, corresponding notches of said first and second groups being spaced relative to each other a distance differing from the distance between said first and second shelf edges by the width of a notch; a ratchet mechanism connected to said support frame and said indexing frame for moving said indexing frame by one-half the width of a notch with respect to said support frame; and remotely operated actuating means connected to said ratchet mechanism for operating said ratchet mechanism from a location remote from said magazine.

Claim 6

The magazine of claim 4 wherein said support frame and said indexing frame are made of epoxy bonded glass fibers.

Claim 7

The magazine of claim 4 wherein said remote actuating means comprise: a coil of wire having two ends and disposed to produce a vertically directed magnetic field on the passage of an electric current therethrough; and a pair of electrical contacts connected one to each of said two ends and adaptable to connect said coil to an external electrical source.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the means for sequentially moving said first and second support rod comprise: an indexing frame including a first notch sized to receive one of said projecting ends of said first rod and disposed to open on one shelf of said first pair of shelves to form therewith an enclosure for said one of said projecting ends of said first rod, said indexing frame further including a second notch alinged on a first axis with said first notch, sized to receive the other of said projecting ends of said first rod and disposed to open on the other shelf of said first pair of shelves to form therewith an enclosure for said other of said projecting ends of said first rod, said indexing frame further including a third notch sized to receive one of said projecting ends of said second rod and disposed to open on one shelf of said second pair of shelves to form therewith an enclosure for said one of said projecting ends of said second rod, said indexing frame further including a fourth notch aligned on a second axis with said third notch and sized to receive the other of said projecting ends of said second rod and disposed to open on the other shelf of said second pair of shelves to form therewith an enclosure for said other of said projecting ends of said seconD rod, said first and second axes being parallel to each other and separated by a distance that differs from the separation of said first and second pairs of shelves by the width of said first notch; and driving means for producing relative motion of one notch width between said indexing frame and said support frame, whereby operation of said driving means when a foil is supported on said first and second pair of shelves drops one rod from one of said pairs of shelves to dangel the foil in the particle beam to effect stripping thereof.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said driving means comprise: a coil of wire connected to said support frame and said indexing frame and squeezably deformable to produce relative motion therebetween, said coil disposed to produce a vertically directed magnetic field on the passage of an electric current therethrough; a source of electrical energy connectable to said coil to pass an electric current therethrough; means for connecting said source to said coil; a ratchet mechanism for controlling the amount and direction of relative motion between said support frame and said indexing frame, whereby connecting said source to said coil establishes a magnetic field therein to interact with the vertically directed component of the accelerator magnetic field to produce squeezed deformation of said coil and hence relative motion between said support frame and said indexing frame.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said support frame and said indexing frame are epoxy-bonded glass fibers.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said thin foil is formed of polymerized para-xylene (poly-p-xylylene) having a thickness less than 6000 Angstroms.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said support frame is epoxy-bonded glass fibers.