System 85, real-time ultrasound scanner, with two linear array tranducers, by Diagnostic Sonar Limited (DSL), made in Livingstone, Scotland, 1976

Diagnostics Sonar Limited produced the UK’s first electronic real-time ultrasound scanner in 1976. Prior to this, in mechanical scanners, ultrasound waves are produced by a piezoelectric crystal oscillating in an electrical field. In both mechanical and electrical scanners, transducers are applied to a person’s skin to produce grey scale images inside their bodies.

Founded in 1975, the company was started by two former employees of Nuclear Enterprises, who wanted to develop real time ultrasound scanning in the UK. Their first office was a rented house, where the kitchen was turned into a laboratory. The size of the System 85 meant it could be transported between clinics. Although not designed to and required an additional back plate protect the machine vibrations, its portability meant scanning services could be set up in remote areas of the United Kingdom.