Siemens
Collection
Scientific Instruments
Identifier
01IM
Type
Màquina de raigs X i equip
Enllaç relacionat
http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/1661
Lloc de procedència
Barcelona
Location
Facultat de Medicina i Ciències Salut. Campus Bellvitge. Feixa Llarga, s/n
Date
1920
Description
Read more
This x-ray machine dates from the 1920s. It was found at the Pedro i Pons family home, located in the Avinguda de Vallvidrera in Barcelona, and was used in the surgery of Dr. Agustí Pedro i Pons. In 2007, the University of Barcelona and the Agustí Pedro i Pons Foundation contracted DePuy Spine Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, to restore the machine.
The machine is divided into the following parts: the operating console, the x-ray tube and the high-voltage power source (the latter two are stored in a protective wooden cabinet). There is also a fluoroscope for obatining real-time moving images of the internal structures of a patient, which is formed by a fluorescent screen and a movable examination table. The other exhibits include a negatoscope, a lead apron and a series of posters with information about the exhibit.
Operating console: The operator controls the current and voltage of the x-ray tube and the length of exposure to obtain a beam of the desired quality (penetration, kilovolts: kV) and quantity (intensity, milliamperes: mA). It has a power switch system and independent controls for voltage (kV), current (mA) and exposure time.
X-ray tube: The x-rays are produced in a Coolidge tube (or hot cathode tube) filled with low pressure gas and sheathed in a lead casing. The tube contains a cathode (an electrode that emits electrons), the focus, an anode and the vacuum space. The lead casing has a window through which the photons are released. The tube is connected to the high-voltage source, an ammeter and a voltmeter.
High-voltage power source: This is used to increase the output voltage of the transformer to the kV required to produce x-rays.
Wooden cabinet: The cabinet houses the high-voltage power source and the x-ray tube.
Fluoroscope: This instrument provides real-time moving images of the internal structures of a patient. It comprises an x-ray source, a fluorescent screen and a movable examination table for the patient to lie on.
Negatoscope: A back-lit screen on which an x-ray is mounted to view the image in negative.
Lead apron: To protect the operator from the radiation.
Posters: One poster chronicling the life and achievements of Dr. Agustí Pedro i Pons, produced by the foundation that bears his name, and two posters produced by Dr. Àngel González-Sistal that explain what x-rays are, how they are produced, how they are used in diagnostic imaging, and some of their basic physical principles and applications in medicine (linked to the online presentation Els raigs X: unes ones centenàries en el diagnòstic mèdic, on the history of x-rays in medical diagnosis).
(AGS)
