Karl Vierordt collected gases in his expirator and then measured the volume by water displacement. From Genusus, Swiss Journal of the History of Medicine and Sciences, volume 38, 1981, an article titled “Die anfange der spirometrie im 19.Jahrhundert” by Mienem Lehrer, page 248.
Category Archives: 1840s
Spirometer, Hutchinson’s, 1846
Hutchinson’s original spirometer from his lecture article in Medical Chirurgical Transactions, Volume 29, pages 137–252, 1846.
Spirometer, Hutchinson’s, 1846
Hutchinson’s original spirometer from his lecture article in Medical Chirurgical Transactions, Volume 29, pages 137–252, 1846. This drawing is showing how to uncork the top of the spirometer so it can be returned to its starting position.
Spirometer, 1848
Über die Menge der ausgeathmeten Luft bei verschiedenen Menschen und ihre Messung durch das Spirometer: ein Beitrag zur medicinischen Diagnostik : mit 1 Abbildung by Gustav Simon and Julius Vogel, 1848, endplate. Spirometer manufacturer unknown.
This book was printed two years after Hutchinson’s treatise on the spirometer and the vital capacity and his design has already been modified.
Vierordt, Expirator, 1845
Karl von Vierordt used his “expirator” to collect exhaled air and then measured volume by immersing it and seeing the volume change in water.
From http://www.timely-cost.eu/sites/default/files/ppts/tempProcSenses/talks/Wearden.pdf