Binocular ophthalmoscope with mirror adjustment
AssigneeWelch Allyn, Inc.
InventorRonald A. Hauptli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A binocular ophthalmoscope having a pair of eyepieces that are mounted in a frame and arranged to view a target area in the eye through a pair of angularly offset reflecting surfaces. The reflecting surfaces are seated on a carriage that is mounted for reciprocation in the frame. A mirror is pivotally mounted in the frame and arranged to direct a beam of light at the target area. A camming mechanism connects the mirror and the carriage so that the axis of the light beam and the axes of the image paths to the reflecting surfaces all move closer together as the carriage moves in one direction and moves further apart as the carriage moves in the opposite direction.
Claims12
A binocular ophthalmoscope for viewing objects inside the eye that includes
- a frame for supporting a pair of opposed eyepieces arranged for viewing along a common horizontal axis,
- a light source for directing a beam of light along a first light path onto an illumination mirror,
- a movable table that supports said illumination mirror in said frame for redirecting a beam of light along a first light path onto an illumination mirror,
- a movable table that supports said illumination mirror in said frame for redirecting the beam of illumination along a second light path for illuminating a target inside the eye,
- a carriage mounted in said frame for reciprocation along a path of travel toward and away from the target,
- a pair of image reflecting surfaces mounted on said carriage for directing images of said target travelling along separate image paths back to each eyepiece so that the distance separating the axes of the image paths move closer together as the carriage is moved toward said target and move further apart as the carriage is moved away from said target and
- control means for angularly adjusting the position of said movable table in response to the movement of said carriage so that the vertical distance separating the axis of the beam of light and the axes of the two image paths decreases as the image paths move closer together and increase as the image paths move further apart.
A method of binocular stereoscopic viewing of a target area inside the eye that includes the steps of
- directing a light beam from an illumination source along a light axis into a target area inside the eye to illuminate the target area,
- viewing the illuminated area along two image paths through two perpendicularly disposed reflecting surfaces,
- moving the reflecting surfaces toward or away from the target area to adjust the horizontal distance separating the axes of the two image paths,
- independently adjusting the angular orientation of the light beam axis to provide for maximum illumination without harmful reflections, and
- repositioning the axis of said light beam without disturbing the angular orientation of the light beam axis with respect to the image path axes in response to the movement of the reflecting surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.