General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

2

Total Parts

4

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Aluminum body; plastic container

Dimensions

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

Length

14.5 cm

Width

6.9 cm

Height

N/A

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

5.1 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

Used as a container for soda lime in 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 liters 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

At top near gas cylinder fittings: "Z & W/ PAT. PEND"

Missing

no

Finish

Aluminum fittings with a plastic container wall

Decoration

N/A