In the late 1930s, Australian engineers Edward and James Both designed a “breathing machine” otherwise known as an iron lung, which proved a life saver for some polio victims.
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It is one of the intriguing items on display in the medical wing at The Land of the Beardies History House Museum and Research Centre.
An earlier “American Drinker iron lung” had been very heavy and enormously expensive, so the Boths developed one that was made mainly of plywood.
Their iron lung was transportable.
Philanthropist Lord Nuffield of the Morris Cowley Engineering firm in Oxford, on hearing of this, made his engineering facilities available for the manufacture of iron lungs for hospitals in Britain. There was an outbreak of the virus at that time in the United Kingdom.
Jeannie Ross Fraser wrote in 2006: “By August 1939 the board of directors of the Glen Innes hospital received a machine to be used at the hospital and it was to be housed in an extension of the isolation ward.
“The machine cost ₤38 sterling to manufacture and this was paid for by Lord Nuffield’s donation. [Other Australian hospitals also benefited from his generosity.]
“It served the Glen Innes hospital until 1956 when other types of ventilators would have been used in the building…
“The Boths worked on portable medical equipment for the Australian army and were responsible for the first commercially produced electrocardiograph machine, electrically driven invalid wheelchairs, electronic gun barrel bore measuring device, and also, to facilitate the manufacture of service uniforms the Australian army, they devised and made a most satisfactory cloth-cutting machine capable of cutting out 100 garments a day…
“...at the cessation of hostilities, the Both firm extended to a company in Sydney where they developed the now well-known Australian automatic totaliser machines used in horse racing until the more modern electronic equipment became available.”
The iron lung, by way of pumps, allowed people to breathe by controlling airflow into the airtight compartment where the patient lay.
A soft rubber cuff round the patient’s neck maintained the vacuum.
When the pressure fell, air was automatically sucked into the lungs and when the pressure rose, it was forced out, mimicking a regular breathing.
Many years ago, The Land of the Beardies History House Museum and Research Centre had to cover the head aperture of the iron lung with wire mesh as a possum had somehow found its way in.
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