CT Metrology Specialist, Herminso Villarraga-Gomez continues his Evolution collection this year with a third project – The Evolution of X-ray Tubes. Herminso is based in USA at Nikon Metrology’s Brighton office and in the previous two years has worked on The Evolution of The Computer Mouse and The Evolution of Electric Light Bulbs. Take a look at the fascinating images below and learn a little more about the history of x-ray tubes.
All of the pictures in this article were taken with a Nikon XTH225ST CT system housing a modern X-ray tube – to discover more about Nikon Metrology’s X-ray and CT, click here.
This is an X-ray image of a Crookes tube, or a classic version of what is often known as Crookes-Hittorf tube, which is similar to the one used by Wilhelm C. Röntgen during his discovery of ‘X-rays’ in 1895. This kind of tube also served Joseph J. Thomson in his discovery of the electron in 1897.
This is an X-ray image of a Gundelach tube, a two bi-anode cold cathode X-ray tube originally introduced in the late 1890s (right after Röntgen’s discovered the ‘X-rays’) and typically manufactured until 1920s.
This is an X-ray image of a high vacuum ‘hot cathode’ X-ray tube from the 1940s-50s. The hot cathode X-ray tube, originally invented by William D. Coolidge in 1913, is a basic design still used for X-ray sources of today.
The Evolution of X-ray Tubes also features in the OSA-OPN photo contest 2017 and can be found here.
The Nikon Metrology XT H 225 Computed Tomography (CT) system used boasts a wide range of applications from quality control and failure analysis to material research. The powerful micro-focus X-ray source and high imaging resolution are just a few of its benefits. To find out more about our CT inspection range, click here.