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Mobile Plant to X-ray Pipe Lines

24th October 1947
Page 51
Page 51, 24th October 1947 — Mobile Plant to X-ray Pipe Lines
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Philips X-ray and Darkroom Equipment Installed in Bedford 4-5-Conner for Leading Tube Manufacturer, will Speed Up Construction of Urgently Needed Power Stations

TO enable welded high-pressure pipe lines to be examined satisfattorily on site, Philips Electrical, Ltd., Century House, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.C.2, has developed a fully mobile X-ray unit.

In the first instance, the equipment has been evolved for work in connection with the erection of generating stations. The testing of materials for these projects normally requires time, which under present conditions of urgency can ill be spared. Any means that can be devised to speed up test inspections, without losing efficiency, is of great service to the Nation.'

Darkroom on the Spot

The mobile X-ray unit canalso be applied to shipbuilding and constructional engineering, in which inspection normally must take place on site. Moreover, the use Of the outfit avoids protracted searches for suitable darkroom accommodation, which have often been necessary in the past, even when no difficulty has been experienced in making the radiographic examination.

Stewarts and Lloyds, Ltd., of Halesowen, near Birmingham, one of the largest makers of metal tubes in this country, has recently taken delivery of the first of these Philips mobile X-ray vans. ' Equipment is housed in a Bedford 4-5-tonner, the body of which is divided into two main compartments to accommodate all the necessary X.:ray apparatus, and to provide a complete darkroom service. The vehicle will be used for routine examinations of welded high-pressure pipe lines to ensure that the welds are free from

• defects. The darkroom, which is situated immediately behind the cab, is separated from the rear compartment by a light-tight partition. The equipment of the darkroom includes a special filmloading bench for the storage of X-ray film, chemicals, cassettes and other apparatus. There are also a processing unit, washbasin, a special Philora viewing lantern, and facilities for quick drying of X-ray film: Processing is carried out in stainless-steel tanks with spillproof lids. The X-ray equipment, carried in the rear compartment, is held in position during transit by means of spring loaded attachments. The installation is a Philips Macro 300 inspection unit, capable of examining steel up to a thickness of 41 ins.

For case in loading and unloading, the tailboard is designed as a doublehinged ramp, which, when lowered, affords a gradient of 1 in 6. The HT. generators for the X-ray equipment are moved on small two-wheeled trolleys.

Concealed lighting is mounted in the cant panels, and is provided by six 10-in, tubes, fitted into reflectors having fiat opal glass fronts.

The darkroom is kept' at a reasonable temperature by means of refrigeratortype ventilators fitted in the roof and a Vent-Axia exhaust fan mounted on the forward bulkhead of the compartment.

Special cable and hose drums are housed in compartments below the chassis level, and, when coupled to external supplies, feed the various water and electrical circuits. A 34-gallon storage tank is carried above the driver's cab to boost the water pressure. The electrical main distribution board is mounted on the bulkhead between the driver's and passengers seats.

This vehicle provides yet another example of the use of road transport to solve a problem of production, as distinct from distribution.

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Locations: Birmingham, London

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