Motorized applanation tonometer

摘要

A control unit may be mounted in operative relationship to a conventional tonometer adjustment wheel to allow for motorized adjustment thereof. The unit includes a battery which powers a DC motor. The motor provides driven input to a right-angle gear drive, the output of which drives a friction wheel. The friction wheel is positioned so as to be in frictional engagement with the outer circumferential surface of the tonometer adjustment wheel. Actuation of a remote-mounted switch therefore allows the attending ophthalmologist to selectively drive the tonometer adjustment wheel in clockwise and counterclockwise directions so as to thereby adjust tonometer settings. The gear drive is mounted for pivotal movements about an axis transverse to the rotational axis of the tonometer adjustment wheel so that the friction wheel may be moved between engaged and disengaged positions relative to the tonometer adjustment wheel. A spring normally biases the friction wheel into its engaged position with the tonometer adjustment wheel.