Spirometer, Sentinella, 1940

Spirometer_Sentinella_1940

From: Breathing capacity and grip strength of preschool children, by Eleanor Metheny, University of Iowas Studies, Studies in Child Welfare Volume 18, No. 390, 1940, page 20.

“…the spirometer shown in Figure 1 was constructed by J. G. Sentinella of the State University of Iowa.  The upright cylinder is made of brass tubing 1/8 inch in thickness covered with black crystallizing lacquer.  The uprights and pulleys are made of brass, with a smooth finish. The metal tubes are also made of brass. The bell is made of 1/65 inch brass sheeting, and has a clearance of 1/16 inch as it moves up and down.  Fifty pound test linen fish line runs over the pulleys and connects the bell with the counterweights. The balance of the bell and the counterweights was carefully worked out so that the bell offers little resistance to upward movement. A slight puff is sufficient to start it on its upward rise.

“Soft rubber tubing with .8 cm inside diameter is attached to one extension of the inside vertical pipe, and the second extension is fitted with a cork which is removed when the air is being let out of the tank. The faucet attached to the lower part of the tank is for convenience is emptying water from the spirometer. The individual wooden mouthpieces manufactured by Stoelting and Company for use with a large spirometer fit the rubber tubing.  A new mouthpiece was used with each child.

“The vertical scale is graduated 2 cubic inch units. The distance between two cross lines is .1 inch, so that the record may be read to the nearest cubic inch.

“The spirometer measures 21.5 inches from the base to the top of the pulleys and has an over-all diameter of 5.4 inches.  It weighs 11 pounds when empty, and can be transported easily.”

Mouthpiece, Spirometer, 1908

Mouthpiece_Spirometer_1908

From, The Year Book of General Medicine, Volume 1, Year Book Publishers, 1908, page 90.

“A simple aseptic mouthpiece for the spirometer is described by Thomas A. Storrey.  This mouthpiece (A) is made of wood, beveled on one end to fit easily between the lips.  The other end is made to fit snugly in the bore of the rubber tubing (B) which leads to the spirometer.  These may be made anywhere.  The Narragansett Machine Company of Providence, R.I., has furnished me with tips at the rate of $3 per thousand. Each mouthpiece is used but once. It is then thrown away. At one-third of a cent each this is not extravagant.  With such tips in use the danger of spreading contagion from mouth-to-mouth in our anthropometric investigations would disappear.  (Fig. 9)”

Spirometer, Speck, 1892

Spirometer_C_Speck_1892

Designed to measure ventilation during exercise.  Subject inhaled from the spirometer on the left and exhaled into the spirometer on the right.  Counterweights were added as the left spirometer bell rose above the water level and removed as the right spirometer bell fell.  Originally from: Carl Speck, Physiologies des Menschlichen. Atmens nach eigenen Untersuchungen, 1892.