Cassette

Details Cassette Cassette

1998-11-04

2001-02-20

Hannaher, Constantine (Department: 2878)

Radiant energy

Invisible radiation responsive nonelectric signalling

Luminescent device

C250S485100, C250S584000, C250S588000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06191426

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cassette containing a radiographic image converter plate on which radiographic images are stored.
On a radiographic image converter plate on which radiographic images are stored, the images are deteriorated including that the radiographic images are erased, when they are subjected to light-irradiation. Therefore, each of the radiographic image converter plates is contained in the cassette which is optically shielded against light, to be carried.
An example of the cassette will be explained with reference to FIG.
25
. On case
102
in the drawing, there is formed opening
104
whose one side is open.
On the other hand, flexible radiographic image converter plate
106
is fixed on tray
108
having sufficient rigidity which is to be inserted in the case
102
through the opening
104
of the case
102
.
Further, on the tray
108
, there is integrally provided cap
110
which engages with the opening
104
of the case
102
and optically shields the inside of the case
102
against light.
Therefore, when the tray
108
is inserted in the case
102
through the opening
104
of the case
102
, the cap
110
engages with the opening
104
of the case
102
and the inside of the case
102
is optically shielded against light.
In the cassette having the aforesaid structure, when foreign materials such as dust enter the case
102
from the outside thereof to stick to the radiographic image converter plate
106
, it is difficult to discriminate between actual images and foreign materials on the image obtained through reading.
Accordingly, it is necessary to take out the tray
108
from the case
102
and to clean the inside of the case
102
and the tray
108
.
However, the cap
110
and the tray
108
are structured solidly, which causes a problem that cleaning on vicinity B of a base portion of the cap
110
is difficult as shown in FIG.
26
.
The invention has been achieved in view of the aforesaid problem, and its object is to provide a cassette wherein cleaning is easy.
FIG. 27
shows how the cassette in the conventional example stated above is loaded on image reading section
107
. Radiographic images obtained on conversion plate
106
through radiographing are read by scanning the conversion plate
106
with a laser beam and by receiving stimulated emission emitted from the conversion plate with a photoreceptor section. As shown in
FIG. 27
, cap
110
is fixed on tray
108
in the conventional cassette. Therefore, even when the cap
110
is made to be close to image reading section
107
, there still is caused relatively large gap d between the image reading section
107
and the conversion plate
106
. When the gap d between the image reading section
107
and the conversion plate
106
is large, stimulated emission is disturbed in the course of image reading, reading accuracy for radiographic images is lowered, and image quality of images to be read is lowered, which are problems.
Further, as shown in
FIG. 27
, due to height h of internal projection of cap
110
, an image area is narrowed by the height h, which is a problem.
An object of the invention is to make a gap formed between an image reading section and a conversion plate to be small even when a cassette is loaded on the image reading section, and thereby to prevent deterioration of accuracy for reading radiographic images and to prevent that an image area is narrowed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The objects stated above can be attained by the following structures.
A cassette in which a radiographic image converting plate is accommodated, comprises:
a case having an opening;
a tray on which the radiographic image converting plate is loaded; and
a cap capable of being fitted with the opening, the cap connected with the tray so that the tray is moved together with the cap so as to be inserted into or drawn out from the case through the opening, the position of the cap capable of being displaced relative to the tray.
A cassette in which a radiographic image converting plate is accommodated, comprises:
a case having an opening; and
a cap capable of being fitted with the opening, the cap connected with the radiographic image converting plate so that the radiographic image converting plate is moved together with the cap so as to be inserted into or drawn out from the case through the opening, the position of the cap capable of being displaced relative to the tray.
The object stated above can also be attained by the preferable structure of the invention shown below.
A cassette which is composed of a case having an opening, a tray which is arranged in the case and has thereon a radiographic image conversion plate that is fixed on the tray, and a cap which is provided to be capable of being mounted on and dismounted from the tray and engages with the opening of the case to optically shield the inside of the case against light.
Since the cap is capable of being mounted on and dismounted from the tray, the cap can be separated from the tray when cleaning, which makes the cleaning easy.
It is preferable that engagement and disengagement between the tray and the cap is carried out by a stepped pin which is provided on the tray and has a smaller diameter section that is in contact with the tray and a larger diameter section that is located at the tip portion of the pin, and an elongated hole which is provided on the part of the cap and is set to be broader than the smaller diameter section of the stepped pin and to be narrower than the larger diameter section, and is composed of a first hole portion that is set so that the cap portion can engage with the opening when the smaller diameter section of the stepped pin engages, and of a second hole portion which is provided to be connected to the first hole portion and has a width larger than the larger diameter section of the stepped pin.
When the cap is engaged with the opening of the case, the first hole portion of the elongated hole on the part of the cap is engaged with the smaller diameter section of the stepped pin on the tray, thus, the cap portion and the tray are on the statement of engagement.
To split the cap and the tray which are on the statement of engagement, the cap is required to be moved so that the smaller diameter section of the stepped pin may be located at the second hole portion of the elongated hole on the part of the cap. Since the width of the second hole portion is set to be greater than the larger diameter section of the stepped pin, the stepped pin and the elongated hole result in the state where they can be split.
In this case, when the cap is moved in the direction to be away from the tray
128
in the axial direction of the stepped pin, engagement between the stepped pin and the elongated hole is canceled and the cap and the tray are split.
When the cap and the tray are split, cleaning turns out to be easy.
In the invention, it is preferable, from the viewpoint of making a cassette to be small, that the stepped pin is provided on the surface of the tray opposite to the surface where the radiographic image converter plate is provided.
As an example of providing an elongated hole, it is preferable that the cap is composed of a cap member which covers an opening of the case and shields the inside of the case against light and of a clip member which is provided on the cap member and is engaged with the opening of the case, and the elongated hole is provided on the guide plate which is provided on the clip member and is made to be almost in parallel with the tray when the cap is engaged with the opening of the case.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5065866 (1991-11-01), Boutet et al.
patent: 5090567 (1992-02-01), Boutet
patent: 5265865 (1993-11-01), Agano et al.
patent: 5475230 (1995-12-01), Stumpf et al.
patent: 6032856 (2000-03-01), Bischoff et al.

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