General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

3

Total Parts

4

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Aluminum body

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

6.6 cm

Width

N/A

Height

N/A

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

2.3 cm

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Medical Technology

Category

Chemicals & medications

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Z&W

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

Part of a collection of medical technologies donated to the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation by the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society.

Function

To house gas filled cylinders on an anaesthetic mask

Technical

In the early 1950s, Dr. Robert A. Hingson (1913-1996) became chairman of the Anesthesiology Department at Case Western Reserve University. Shortly thereafter he developed this field unit with engineers Frank Ziherl and Arthur Kish. Their objective was to create a safe, portable and simple device that could be used for resuscitation and administration of anesthetic gas mixtures with oxygen. They developed a nonexplosive gas mixture of 40% cyclopropane (the anesthetic), 30% helium and 30% oxygen, and packaged six litres of it into two miniature gas cylinders, each less than 3 inches long. The small gas cylinders and carbon dioxide (CO2) absorber made the device light and easy to carry. (ref.1) “It consists of the following parts: (1) a conductive rubber face mask; (2) a central axial body of spark-proof aluminum with a compression spring valve that may be opened and closed with a slight pressure, which opens the ports within the mask by sliding movement, permitting the exchange of respiratory gases within the unit; (3) a conductive breathing bag; (4) two right-arm aluminum containers to house the gas-filled cylinders; (5) gas cylinders; and (6) a soda lime canister. The aluminum containers attach with proximal threats to the small central axial body, which has a specially designed perforating and sealing sliding mechanism for perforating the oxygen and anesthetic cylinders. One of these side-arm containers has an orange band of colour to identify the anesthetic port, and the other side-arm container has a green band of color to designate the oxygen port.” (ref.2)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

None

Missing

N/A

Finish

Dull aluminum body with an orange stripe around the circumference

Decoration

N/A