by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | October 01, 2011
From the October 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The following picture and description appear courtesy of Dr. M. Donald Blaufox, M.D., Ph.D, from his medical historic website: www.mohma.org.
Each month we visit Dr. Blaufox's Museum of Historical Medical Artifacts to take a look back at the medical equipment that cleared the way for what patients encounter in the doctor offices and operating rooms of today. Some equipment may be recognizable, while other inventions featured here have since become obsolete or have had their usefulness discredited.
Category: Radiology
Estimated Date: 1910
Name: X-ray tube (Pifford)
Manufacturer unknown
Description: Double tube designed for superficial therapy with X-rays, considerable blackening of the tube from use. The tube is 13” long with two 3” bulbs, one bulb is flattened on one side for application to the skin. There is a simple extension from one bulb and a t shaped extension from the other. This tube was intended to obviate the need for shielding. It is made of lead glass and the two bulbs are meant to allow for the opacity of the bulb and to modify the rate of change in the vacuum. In addition to being used for skin lesions therapy it was also used for light fluoroscopic work and radiography.
It could be used with a static x ray machine as well, in which case the connections were slightly modified. It could be used with a current of 2 to 5 amperes depending on the energy source. See page 629 of the reference.
