Scanning and recording means for detecting radioactive distributions

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR DETECTING AND STORING SIGNALS GENERATED BY RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL SUBSTANTIALLY STATICALLY DISPOSED WITHIN A PREDETERMINED AREA TO BE SCANNED, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: (A) A MECHANICAL SCANNER INCLUDING A CARRIER AND MEANS FOR SHIFTING SAID CARRIER ACROSS SAID PREDETERMINED AREA TO BE SCANNED FIRST IN ONE DIRECTION AND THEN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO LINE SCAN SAID AREA IN UNIFORM SCANNING INTERVALS, AND MEANS FOR UNIDIRECTIONALLY STEPPING SAID CARRIER IN CONSTANT INCREMENTS IN THE TIME INTERVAL BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE LINE SCANS TRANSVERSELY TO THE PATH OF LINE SCANNING MOVEMENT TO THEREBY SUCCESSIVELY SCAN THROUGH SAID PREDETERMINED AREA ALONG UNIFORMLY SPACED PARALLEL LINES, (B) A RADIATION DETECTOR SECURED TO AND SHIFTABLE WITH SAID CARRIER WHICH DETECTOR GENERATES SEQUENTIAL DATA SIGNALS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONCENTRATION OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL AT THE SEQUENTIALLY SCANNED POINTS BEING INSPECTED, (C) SIGNAL STORAGE MEANS OPERATIVELY COUPLED TO SAID RADIATION DETECTOR EFFECTIVE TO RECOVERABLY STORE IN RECEIVED SEQUENCE THE DATA SIGNALS RECEIVED FROM SAID DETECTOR, (D) CONTROL SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS, AND (E) SCANNER ACTUATED SIGNAL TRANSMISSION MEANS EFFECTIVE WHEN ACTUATED TO TRANSMIT SIGNALS FROM SAID CONTROL SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS TO SAID SIGNAL STORAGE MEANS TO RECOVERABLY STORE SAME IN THE RECEIVED SEQUENCE, SAID SCANNER ACTUATING SAID SIGNAL TRANSMISSION MEANS FOR CONTROL SIGNAL TRANSMISSION DURING ONLY A PART OF EACH COMPOSITE INTERVAL WHICH INCLUDES ONE SCANNING AND ONE STEPPING INTERVAL SUCCESSIVELY OCCURRING.