Abstract: An oil-filled thermometer tube is heated out and sealed. The tube is mounted with the bulb in a reference bath and sequentially moved through a reference station, a column height measuring station, a marking station and a sorting station. The measuring station includes a photosensitive camera having a columnar light source and a line array of photosensitive devices, which are electronically scanned to measure the column height. A plurality of sequential scans are made as a part of a pattern recognition system to insure a measurement only when an oil column has been scanned. The camera produces a digital output which is converted to an output signal to actuate a marker and a sorter at the respective stations.

Abstract: A collimator changing assembly mounted on the support structure of a scintillation camera. A vertical support column positioned proximate the detector support column with a plurality of support arms mounted thereon in a rotatable cantilevered manner at separate vertical positions. Each support arm is adapted to carry one of the plurality of collimators which are interchangeably mountable on the underside of the detector and to transport the collimator between a store position remote from the detector and a change position underneath said detector.