Philips 1964 - 6 Inch Image Intensifier

The first image intensifiers in Radiology were introduced by Westinghouse (the Fluorex ) in 1952, followed by the Philips intensifier, and by the French made “Fluoricon” of General Electric by “Thomson-Houston, France”. These early image intensifiers had a 5”(12.5cms) input screen, and their intensification factor was low, well below 1000. Then came the 7” (17.5cms) intensifier by Siemens, and the 6” (15cms) by Philips, with improved characteristics. A race for larger intensifiers followed, and in the early Seventies, Siemens introduced the largest intensifier ever made, with a 23”(57cms) input screen but which was soon abandoned, reportedly because of some accidental implosions.

The above tube is metal protected and was acquired in 1964. It has a cesium iodide input screen, and boasts an image intensification factor of about 1000. The bright image on the small output phosphor could either be viewed through a periscope, or transmitted through an elaborate optical system to a TV pick-up tube to be viewed on a TV monitor. It suffered however, quite often, of a small central bright spot which had to be eliminated by long gettering. In the picture, above right, this 6” tube is shown beside a relatively modern 9” Philips intensifier.

Picture adapted from “Introduction to Medical Radiographic Imaging”,

Eastman Kodak Company, 1993, p162.

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