GB690494A - Improvements in or relating to microscope manipulators or dissection manipulators - Google Patents

Abstract

690,494. Microscope manipulators. SINGER, A. E. SAUNDERS-. May 22, 1951 [June 6, 1950; July 21, 1950], Nos. 14125/50 and 18296/50. Class 97 (i). [Also in Group XXIV] A microscope manipulator by which a stylus or other dissection or similar instrument is constrained to follow to a reduced scale the path traced by the hand of the operator comprises a framework formed of a finger-grip or like manually-operable element, a support for the article being manipulated and a plurality of pantographic linkages located in substantially parallel planes, serving as motion-reducing connecting means between the manuallyoperated element and the support. Each linkage may comprise a parallelogram in which the four sides are rigidly secured together by their ends and at least some of them are flexible to allow distortion of the assembly. As shown in Fig. 1 the front of a regular cube is built up from a rigid rod or finger-grip 1 and three brass flexible strips 2, 3 and 4. The base is made from the rod 1 and three brass strips 5, 6, 7. The back comprises a rigid rod 8 which may be clamped to a rigid base, the strip 6 and flexible wires 9 and 10. The ends of the cube are completed by flexible wires 11, 12. Each side has an inner reduction frame comprising wires 13, 14, and sides 2, 5, or wires 15, 16 and sides 4, 7. The points of intersection 17, 18 form resting points upon which may be rested or fixed a stylus or pointer 19 carrying a sample to be viewed under a microscope or a dissecting instrument. An equivalent construction with some of the sides of the cube omitted may be formed by two deformable parallelograms and four cross-bars interconnecting the parallelograms of their extended sides. As shown in Fig. 5, one parallelogram has sides 20, 21, 24, 25 and the other has sides 22, 23, 26, 27. The parallelograms are interconnected by the fingergrip rod 1, connected to extensions of sides 25, 27, by the rod 8 secured to the base rod 29 and connected to junctions of rods 21, 24, and 23, 26, by the rod 30 for carrying the sample to be viewed and by the rod 36. A rod or stylus holder 55 is detachably provided on rod 30 and a connection comprising crank 31, links 33, plate 34 and link 35 is provided between the fingergrip 1 and rod 30 for rotating the stylus holder from rod 1 as desired. The link elements are all connected by universal joints, links 24, 25, 26, 27, 33 and 35 comprising two strips held together by bolts 37 and accommodating balls located between them by apertures in the strips, these balls being attached to and forming bearings for the cross-rods. Counterbalance weights 28 are attached to the assembly. Means may be provided for centring the tip of the rod or stylus upon the rotational axis of the toolholder. A multiple tool-holder movable to bring into operative position any of the tools mounted thereon as desired may be provided. The assembly can be detachably and adjustably secured to a vertical column 40 having a heavy base 39.