Rack for holding x-ray cassettes and the like
OwnerAlex Forcinainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The rack has an inclined bottom, a slightly angled upstanding back wall, a right endwall and a short front wall defining a media cassette receiving area. Upon activation by a manually operated handle a withdrawal mechanism disposed behind the back wall, containing a carriage having a finger selectively protruding therethrough urges the rearmost media cassette in the rack along the back wall until it may be grasped by an operator. Subsequent cassettes settle backward against the back wall upon withdrawal of the rearmost media cassette. Cassettes may be added to the rack forward of any media cassettes currently therein. In this way a FIFO queue is maintained regardless of the number or mix of media cassettes stored in the rack.
Claims17
A rack for receiving, storing, and allowing withdrawal of media cassettes in a first in, first out (FIFO) sequence, comprising:
- a) a cabinet comprising a media cassette receiving region having a sloping bottom, a vertically inclined back, a right side panel, and a left guide stop;
- b) an extracting mechanism disposed behind said back and comprising a carriage movable from side to side parallel to a major axis of said sloping bottom, said carriage carrying a finger movable between a retracted, inactive orientation and a protruding, active orientation, when in said retracted, inactive orientation being disposed completely behind a front surface of said back, when in said protruding, active orientation, protruding through an elongated opening through said back and beyond a front surface of said back;
- c) an activating mechanism disposed proximate a left side of said cabinet and operatively connected to said extracting mechanism and adapted to move said carriage from a home position proximate said right side panel in a leftward direction toward said left side of said cabinet and to cause said finger to assume said active, protruding orientation upon an activating force being applied to said activating mechanism in said leftward direction, said finger returning to said retracted, inactive orientation upon release of said activating force from said activating mechanism;
- and
- d) a restoring mechanism disposed within said cabinet and operatively connected to said extracting mechanism to move said carriage in a rightward direction to said home position and to oppose said activating force applied to said activating mechanism in said leftward direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.