GB1364175A - X ray tube with electrically conductive bearing bypass - Google Patents

Abstract

1364175 X-ray tubes MAOHLETT LABORATORIES 15 March 1972 [2 July 1971] 12157/72 Heading H1D An X-ray tube of the type wherein a rotating anode carried by a shaft 46, Fig. 2, is supported on bearings 32 from a fixed support 24 sealed to the envelope, is provided with a leaf spring contact device electrically interconnecting members 46 and 24 independently of the main bearings so that the latter need not necessarily be conductive. In Fig. 2 the contact device comprises a contact button 62 fixed to one end of a leaf spring 60 secured to a ring 58 which is fixed to the support 24. The button 62 should be a self-lubricating metal such as silver, silvercopper, or silver-tungsten-molybdenum, and the co-operating surface or insert 64 should be a hard metal such as rhenium, tungsten or rhodium. The spring pressure also serves to take up any slack in the bearings, and a cylinder 66 surrounding the contact device prevents particles produced by wear from migrating towards the bearings. A similar arrangement may be provided when the anode shaft is outside instead of inside the fixed support (Fig. 3, not shown).