That is pretty interesting equipment though too bad this isn't in its original location. We are looking at the part that the doctor would be facing and the patient would be behind the screen. The dose is actually pretty low on this type of system however so is the diagnostic value. This would be situated in a completely dark room and the radiologist would have spend time in this room to get acclimated to the dark. The patient would step onto the location and a faint image would appear. These were very dim. somewhere in the range of 1/1000 the light intensity of normal work environments. Since the 1950's Flouro systems have used a device called an image intensifier which amplifies the light and allows it to be displayed in most enviroments. More recently there have been solid state detectors introduced that replace the intensifier altogther.

@ Jack. The iron lungs are air tight so no air enters or leaves them this is so that when the bellows is at the closed state, the chamber pressure is higher than outside forcing air from the lungs and when the bellows is at the open state the chamber pressure is lower than outside creating the condition that will draw air into the lung. It works like a human diapragm only using the bellows to adjust pressure not muscles.
@ Maggy. An MRI machine is quite a bit different than this although it does have an Aperture that kind of resembles this. MRI, PET and CT systems all have an aperture and a table used to position the patient in the device.

Remarkable photo! This shows the adjustment that will compensate for the volume of air the lungs must inhale and expel and the frequency of the breaths. As not all lungs are the same size, an adjustment is necessary to both volume and rate. Given that the system is primarily driven by a motor with a cam connected to a leather bellows, I'd imagine that shortening the cam would increase frequency and lengthing the shaft that connects the cam to the bellows would increase the volume. Did you see any other adjustments?

This stuff is still in use today and used how mink describes as a swallowed contrasting agent for digestive studies. Normally this is used along with flouroscopy to help the doctor watch the progress of the contrast through the patient. As few few vets have flouro and in days before flouro rad exposures at interval can also be used and the films developed and viewed.

This is a photo of a Machlett tube. Machlett has since gone under and now the tubes are made by Varian, Dunlee and Toshiba. You can tell by the highly textured finish and the shape of the federal connector ports. They used to build these in Connecticut and Massachusetts when Machlett was owned by Raytheon

Transworld when under about 10 years ago or so... It certainly isn't an old machine (less than 25 years) and there are new machines that are still being built that look like this today. This system likely has 3 receptors (places where to point the x-ray tube to) a wall stand(aka a wall bucky) a table bucky and a table top (non-bucky)

No, X-ray machines don't emit that type of radiation that has a period where it will remain after the exposure. PCBs are likley found in the tube and in the high voltage tank (which could be found at the other end of the cables) as it was commonly used as in insulator for high voltage applications.Medical X-rays range from 15,000V (15 kV) in dental and mammography up to 150,000 (150 kV) in Computed Tomography (CT or CAT scan). This system likely produced x-rays between 40 kV and 125 kV

There is no evidence of this system having any tomographic capabilities. I assume this was concluded because of the position of the x-ray tube however all systems (including a floor mounted radiographic room which is what this is) have a bearing behind the tube so that the tube can be rotated and pointed to another receptor. i.e. a wall stand for chest x-rays or certain table bucky/table top studies. This is not a terribly old system (less than 25 years) with an elevating table. There are thousands of systems this vignt or older still in service across the US

This is an interesting setup. What is pictured is a fairly standard overhead tube crane used for postioning and a fairly standard collimator used to reduce the dose of x-rays. I am facinated by the tube however as it is an unusual shape. The silver cap will be covering the anode and the smaller button shaped feature is over the cathode. typical tubes have a cylindrical enclosure with ports for the anode and cathode in a completely different location. Looks like a small diameter anode therefore it would have a low kiloheat unit (KHu) rating and be for light duty. Also radiographic only examinations for urology studies have been out of vogue since the 1960's placing this system from then or earlier.