Mechanical design of CERN new linac accelerating structure

This paper outlines the mechanical engineering design philosophy and gives a short description of major components, assembly methods and performance of the Alvarez structure for CERN's new 50-MeV proton linear accelerator now in operation as the injector for a complex of high energy machines. It replaced the old linac which could no longer satisfy the demands for a proton beam of higher peak current and better quality. Some of the design details mentioned in this paper, such as drift tube demountable girders and the alignment method, were first tried on the 3-MeV experimental linac built at CERN. Some production technologies, like copper clad steel, have been used on existing linacs. However, there are several new features incorporated in this Alvarez structure which are novel in the field of linac design