Weird Inventions That Saved Lives: The Breeches Buoy

Blogger: Amber Lemus

Breeches Buoy in use 1919
Public Domain Photo

Today we are continuing our series on Weird Inventions That Saved Lives. If you look at this month's featured contraption, it looks downright silly. At first glance, you might think someone hung a giant pair of toddler pants beneath a life ring just for a laugh. But this odd-looking mechanism actually saved thousands of lives from watery graves during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is a breeches buoy.

Imagine standing on a wooden sailing ship during a violent storm, trapped as the waves thrash your vessel against the shallow sandbars of the coastline. The sea is far too wild for a rescue surfboat to reach you, and swimming to shore would mean certain death.

To solve this heartbreaking dilemma, an English inventor named George William Manby brainstormed a solution in the early 1800s. He invented a mortar that could fire a rope directly over a shipwreck from the shore. Originally, shipwreck victims had to physically hold onto and slide down the rope, which was nearly impossible for those who were injured, terrified, or weak from hypothermia.

Eventually, the breeches buoy was designed to fix this problem. The apparatus consisted of a circular cork lifebuoy with a pair of sturdy canvas "breeches" (shorts) securely sewn into the middle. Thus, the name, breeches buoy. 

However, the system was not a simple one. Each man on the rescue crew had to know exactly what to do and how to do it properly. Timing was everything. So, the rescue teams, such as the U.S. Life-Saving Service had to drill with the apparatus every week. 

Once a line was fired to the ship using a line-throwing gun—frequently a 200-pound Lyle gun in America—the shipwrecked crew would haul the heavy rope out and secure it tightly to the ship's mast. Rescuers on the beach anchored the other end in the sand. The breeches buoy was then hooked onto the rope like a modern zip line.

One by one, a survivor would step into the canvas pants, sit back securely, and be pulled across the crashing waves to the safety of the shore. If the rope happened to dip or snap, the cork lifebuoy ensured the occupant would float rather than sink.

While it looks like a peculiar piece of laundry suspended in midair, the breeches buoy was an absolute miracle for coastal rescue groups like the U.S. Life-Saving Service. It safely brought thousands of souls to shore who otherwise would have been lost to the sea, remaining a primary rescue method until helicopters took over the job in the 1950s.

The Chicamacomico Life-Saving station and historical site still does this drill once a week during the summer. Click here to see a video of this drill.
https://youtu.be/RENMwYoI_Zw?si=N0oPzmgVSSugHAfq

Have you ever heard of a breeches buoy? How would you feel about stepping into a pair of canvas pants to zip-line over a raging ocean storm?

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber (Schamel) Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales. She has a passion for travel, history, books, and her Savior. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/ to connect!

Looking for a July 4th read to celebrate America's 250th birthday? Check out Dawn of Liberty, an award-winning look into Sam Adam's participation in the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Liberty-Short-Story-Collection/dp/0692698485

Weird Inventions That Saved Lives: The Iron Lung

Blogger: Amber (Schamel) Lemus

Continuing our series of Weird Inventions That Saved Lives, we come to a more well-known device: the Iron Lung. Most of us know what it is or have heard of a family member or friend who was treated with one in the 50s and 60s. I was just talking to someone the other day whose uncle was confined to an Iron Lung during the Polio pandemic. But while most of us are familiar with the device, we may be less familiar with the history behind its invention. 

Boy being treated in an iron lung.
Photo:National Museum of  Health and Medicine,
CC BY 2.0

This device was used mainly during the Polio pandemics of the 1920s-1960s. To us, the device looks like something that would be used to torture someone, but in reality, it was this peculiar device that saved the lives of thousands. 

The invention of the iron lung began in 1670 when an English inventor by the name of John Mayow came up with the idea of negative pressure. "Negative pressure" is what our bodies use to breathe naturally, basically the vacuum effect that your diaphragm and other muscles create to pull air into your lungs. The idea of a "negative pressure" ventilator is to have an external vacuum or diaphragm that creates that same effect. Mayow built a small model demonstrating his theory with a bellows and bladder to push and expel air. 

Building on this foundational idea of negative pressure, British physician John Dalziel built the first negative pressure ventilator in 1832. Several other prototypes followed and were used successfully in Europe and South Africa. 

The greatest need for the negative pressure ventilators came during the Polio pandemics. The terrible disease of Polio would damage the muscles and patients would no longer be able to breath, since the muscles operating their lungs would cease to function. Therefore, the idea was that a device was needed to help these patients breathe in the same way their muscles should. 

In 1928 Phillip Drinker and Louis Shaw of the United States developed a machine to do just that. It was first known as the "Drinker Respirator" but later became widely used and known as The Iron Lung. The first clinical use of the machine was at the Boston Children's Hospital on October 12, 1928. A twelve-year-old girl was plagued by respiratory failure from Polio and was on the brink of death. Her recovery, within minutes of being placed inside the machine, was almost miraculous and made the device widely popular. 

An image made popular by the movies
depicts a ward of iron lung machines.
Photo: public domain. 

As strange and terrifying as the device looks to us now, many patients described an overwhelming feeling of relief when placed inside the machine as their bodies received the air they needed to live. When faced with the terrifying reality of suffocation, the daunting machine was seen as salvation, not a reason for fear. 

However, the iron lung wasn't perfect. Even with its use, the death rate for those with respiratory paralysis who were treated with the machine was still somewhere between 80-90%. This was due to complications such as drowning in their own saliva (because their swallowing muscles were paralyzed too) or succumbing to organ failure due to acidosis caused by clogged airways. These issues are what led to the development of the modern ventilators, which instead use positive pressure to help the patient breathe. 

Even with its shortcomings, the Iron Lung saved untold thousands of children's lives. Some were treated only for a few weeks during recovery, others required the use of the Iron Lung every day for years. In fact, as of 2026 there is still one known patient who continues to use the Iron Lung in the United States. This individual has used the device for upwards of seventy years. 

Do you know anyone who was treated with the Iron Lung? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  

She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains with her prince charming and two boys. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/  and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

Weird Inventions That Saved Lives: The Morrison Shelter

Blogger: Amber Lemus

Hello friends!

Today we are starting a new series on Weird Inventions That Saved Lives. I post on the 2nd of each month, so be sure to check back for the next article in the series on May 2nd!

Take a look at this contraption. Upon first glance, it looks very strange to see a couple sleeping in what appears to be a cage. I did a double take the first time I saw this photo. But this odd invention actually saved thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of lives during WWII. This is a Morrison Air Raid Shelter. 

We are very familiar with the photos of WWII showing families entering cellars or bunkers or huddling in underground tunnels. But especially in Europe, not every family had a backyard with a cellar, or access to an underground tunnel. The British government noted that thousands of lives were being lost, not from the actual impact of the bombs, but from the surrounding destruction. Walls would cave in or blow out from the blast and then the entire roof would collapse on top of innocent civilians, killing many. So they did what any good government would do, they brainstormed ways to keep their population safe. 

The Morrison Shelter, also known as the Table Shelter, was designed by John Baker and named after Herbert Morrison who was the Minister of Home Security at the time. The device was designed with all functionality and practicality in mind. During the day, it could be used as a table, thus the nickname 'table shelter'. But during the night, or during air raids, it could be used as a shelter. The top was a 3mm steel plate and the frame was also steel with wire mesh. Even the bottom of the shelter was made with a metal lath "mattress" type of design. 

A couple demonstrates the use of the Morrison Shelter
Photo By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer
Imperial War Museums, Public Domain.

The government tested the shelters before they began distribution. In this photo, you can see how the shelters would function as protection during the air raids. This photo is from one of the said tests with dummies inside the shelter. 

Test of the Morrison Shelter with dummies inside.
Photo By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer
Imperial War Museums, Public Domain.

The next step was to distribute some of these shelters to see them working in real time. The British government provided these shelter kits free to low-income families and at a price to wealthy families. The shelter came in a box, and the families were required to assemble the shelter themselves. The kit provided three tools and three-hundred-fifty-nine parts which they would then bolt together inside the home. Half a million of these shelters were distributed by the end of 1941, and another round of one-hundred thousand by the end of 1943.

In one examination, the British government observed forty-four houses that had been damaged in an air raid. Inside those forty-four houses were one-hundred-thirty-six people. Three people were killed, thirteen seriously injured and another sixteen were slightly injured. The three that were killed were directly hit by the bomb. And of those thirteen who were seriously injured, some of those had not sited the shelter properly. The result was that the shelters did indeed save lives. Those 44 homes had suffered severe damage from the attack, and yet one-hundred-twenty of the one-hundred-thirty-six escaped without severe injury. 

While the Morrison Shelter may be a weird or strange-looking contraption, it was invaluable during WWII. 

Have you ever heard of the Morrison Shelter? How would you feel about sleeping inside a metal cage to keep your family safe?

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  

She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains with her prince charming and three children. Between enjoying life as a mom of three littles, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/  and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!