High Frequency Apparatus Page 111

CHAPTER XI. PHYSICIANS' PORTABLE APPARATUS. The design of a portable high frequency outfit for the use of physicians has been approached with some diffidence. Such an outfit imposes certain requirements in skill and workmanship that the amateur constructor is not likely to possess. The portable outfit, to be of practical value, must be compact, light in weight, rugged in construction, and, above all, reliable and very efficient in operation. This means expert workmanship in the construction of the various parts and no little skill and ingenuity in their assembly within a case of small compass. The greater difficulty will be in the placing of the connecting wires and cables. These leads must frequently be placed in locations that are seemingly inaccessible. Should a short circuit occur within the case while the apparatus is in operation, the results might be dangerous. A large measure of the success achieved by electro-therapists has been due to their use of apparatus that could be depended upon to work at the right time and thereby to establish a feeling of confidence on the part of the patient. For the reason stated above, no attempt will be made to describe the construction of a portable electro-therapeutic outfit of the transformer type. The high tension transformer is difficult of construction for the amateur in the very small and compact design that is necessary in this 111