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!

Dr. William Upjohn and the Invention of the Friable Pill

Blogger: Amber Lemus

Dr. William Upjohn cir 1875
Photo By Mbcorcoran -
 Donald Reid Parfet,
Upjohn Company Collection.
 CC BY-SA 4.0

Today we are celebrating the life of a lesser-known inventor who advanced the way medicine was administered to patients. The friable pill is an invention that we take for granted in our modern day, but without this advancement in science, taking our daily supplements and medicines would be much more difficult.

William Upjohn was born on June 15, 1853, to Dr. Uriah Upjohn and his wife Maria. They lived in a town called Kalamazoo Michigan. William's father was a pioneer of the area and served as a physician to the local population for fifty-two years.

William was one of twelve children total, and one of the four who followed in their father's footsteps and become physicians. He graduated from the University of Michigan medical school in 1875, at the age of twenty-two.

On Christmas Eve of 1878, William married Rachel Phoebe Babcock. Together, they had five children, but only four of them would reach adulthood.

For ten years, "Doctor Will", as he was known, practiced medicine in Hastings, Michigan. During this time, he noticed a need for improvement in the way medicines were administered to patients. At the time, medicine was administered in powders and drops, or if they were in pill form, the pills were hard and not easily digestible, leaving the patient to choke down the bitter medicine and hope it absorbed into their system. William started tinkering in his attic with different ways to form pills. Eventually, he invented what he referred to as a "friable" pill, meaning that the pill could be easily crushed into powder, and easily dissolved in the stomach.

William received a patent on the friable pill in 1885. Once he had that patent, he worked on designing a machine that could manufacture these pills more easily. In 1886, he formed the Upjohn Pharmeceutical Company and began manufacturing those pills.

Upjohn Company Logo

Public Domain

Donald Reid Parfet, Upjohn Company Collection.

To market his new product, William employed a unique tactic. He sent small pine boards, along with a sample of his pill, versus his competitor's pill, and invited the physicians to hammer the pills into the board to see which ones were more easily digestible. This apparently worked, because his reputation spread rapidly and the pills became widely accepted. This tactic was later modified, but a thumb crushing the pill became the symbol of the Upjohn Pharmeceutical company for many years.

Besides his growing company, William and his family were beloved citizens of Kalamazoo. Their prominence only grew as the years went on. He established a commission-manager form of government for the city and was elected as the city's first mayor. The commission quickly wiped out a large sum of debts that the city had encumbered. William and the Upjohn Company were behind many philanthropic deeds in the city, including putting up the money to start the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

On July 4, 1905, William's wife passed away after twenty-seven years of marriage. He waited eight years and a day before marrying again, this time to his neighbor, and a widow of another prominent family of Kalamazoo who owned the largest department store in the city. Apparently, he was fond of Christmas weddings, as this one was held on Christmas day, 1913. By then, his youngest child had reached adulthood, and he himself was sixty years of age.

When William died on October 18, 1932, the community of Kalamazoo grieved him. He'd become known as "Kalamazoo's First Citizen" and the flags were flown at half-mast in his honor, and all of the businesses and schools closed for the hour of his funeral.

The Upjohn Company remained in existence until 1995 when it merged with Pharmacia AB to form Pharmacia & Upjohn. The company was later bought out by Pfizer, however they recently resurrected the Upjohn name for a division that manufactures and licenses drugs for which patents have expired.

Though Doctor Will is a lesser-known inventor, I for one am very grateful for his contributions to medicine.

*****

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 near the Ozarks in her "casita" with her prince charming. 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!

History of the Contact Lenses

Blogger: Amber Schamel

 

As we continue with our series of a History of Ordinary Things, we come to the contact lenses. 

An artist's depiction of Da Vinci's method.
Photo by Tbuffie (CC 2.0)

Like many inventions, Leonardo Da Vinci's theories are where it all started. Da Vinci theorized that sticking one's head into a glass bowl of water would alter the vision. He even created a glass lens, but it was impractical, and he did not intend the theory to be used to correct vision, but simply explore the mechanisms of accommodation.

In 1636, a French scientist by the name of Rene Descartes reviewed Da Vinci's work and came up with a new theory:  a glass tube filled with water could be placed in direct contact with the cornea of the eye to enhance vision. While this idea somewhat worked, it was also impractical because the wearer of said lens could not even blink while wearing the contraption. 

It would be nearly two centuries before someone once again took on the challenge to explore the possibilities of contact lenses. 

Around 1801, Thomas Young -this time a scientist from England- revisited Descartes' idea. He changed the design by reducing the size of the glass tube to one-fourth of an inch, and proceeded to use wax to stick the water-filled lenses to his eyeball. Brave man, if you ask me. While Mr. Young was the first one to accurately describe astigmatism and greatly advanced the field of eye care, his device didn't work, nor was it practical. 

Again, the frontier of improving eyesight with contact lenses was abandoned. 

About forty years later, an English physicist, Sir John Herschel, hypothesized that making a mold of the cornea might produce lenses that could correct vision. However, he lacked the technology to test his hypothesis, so his theory remained speculation for decades. 

Swiss Physician, Adolf Fick
Public Domain

The late 1800's saw a great leap in technology that aided the development of contact lenses, including progressions in glass production, cutting and shaping tech. Three men independently designed glass lenses that fit in the eye, allowing the wearer to blink, however the discovery is usually credited to Swiss doctor Adolf Fick, who was the author of a treatise entitled "A Contact Spectacle." 

The first successful contact lens was fitted in 1888. They were made of glass. And they covered the entire front of the eyeball. Ay! Just thinking about that makes my eyes hurt.

Obviously, these primal lenses had two major problems. First, the eye is the only organ in the body that does not get its oxygen supply from the blood. They get their oxygen directly from the air. This becomes a problem when you cover all exposed parts of it with glass. The eyes can't breathe, which causes pain, redness, and hazy vision. Wait...isn't that what we're trying to correct here? 

The second problem was that the glass lenses were 18-21mm in diameter, which made the weight of the lenses super uncomfortable to wear. 

In the end, these lenses could not be worn for more than a few hours at a time. And it was this way for the next 60 or so years. 

Scleral lens, with visible outer edge.
By L8rgator at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

Finally, in the 1920's, anesthesiology and materials had developed enough that Sir John Herschel's ideas (the English physicist we mentioned a few paragraphs above) could be tested. A doctor Dallos of Hungary perfected a molding method, and soon new plastic materials made a major breakthrough in the practicality of the contact lens. However, the final piece of the puzzle was discovered accidentally. 

Since the scleral lenses covered the entire eye, they still could only be worn for a few hours at a time, because the eye needs to breathe. In 1948, an English optical technician was sanding down a plastic lens when he accidentally messed it up. The part that covered the white of the eye fell off. But he decided to try to utilize it anyway. He smoothed out the edges and popped it in his eye. He was delighted to discover that it still worked, and was far more comfortable, stayed in even when blinking, and would allow the eye to have at least a little air during use. This is how Kevin Touhy became the inventor of the corneal lens, which is the most common one in use today. 

From there, the technology took off. Innovative folks came up with thinner lenses, curved the lenses, and pioneered plastic materials that allowed the eye to breathe through the lens. That's why today, contact wearers can even keep the lens in their eyes overnight.

The optical industry has certainly come a long way in the past seventy five years!

Are you a contact lens wearer? Can you imagine wearing one of the first specimens?

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. 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 near the Ozarks in her "casita" with her prince charming. 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 www.AmberSchamel.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!