Tag Archives: Waldenburg

Finkler and Kochs Apparatus, 1885

Finkler_&_Koch_Apparatus_1885

Apparatus for providing compressed and rarified air for treating lung disease based on the theories of Waldenburg.  From Von Ziemssen’s Handbook of General Therapeutics, Volume 3, published by Smith, Elder, 1885, page 408.

“Finkler and Kochs in Bonn have recently invented an apparently commodious apparatus, which unfortunately we have not yet ourselves had the opportunity of testing.  The apparatus serves to force compressed air into the lung on inspiration, and to assist expiration by sucking air out of the lung (fig. 28).

“A cylinder of strong tinned zinc serves for the reception of the water.  It is 25 centimeters wide; its bottom is pierced by the wide tubes r’  and r, of 1.5 internal diameter.  In this cylinder is placed by a double bell hung by means of a chain wheel and balanced by weights.  The inner bell is 35 centimeters high and 16 centimeters wide.  The other bell surrounds the inner like a ring; it is 70 centimeters high and 40 centimeters wide.  The bells are made of far thinner zinc than the cylinder.

“Upon the inner bell is fixed the tube k, with the valve working inwards, while the tuber r leads out of the bell towards to mask for the face.

“Upon tubes r and r’ two india rubber tubes are fixed which are connected with the facial mask by a T-shaped piece.  By means of a double holdfast pressure of the hand will close one of the tubes, while the other opens.

“The apparatus is filled with water by means of the inlet n, which is then firmly closed by means of an india rubber stopper. The chain wheel consists of two concentric wheels with the same axle. The innermost is connected to the bell, the outer one with the counterweight.  The radius of the outer wheel is double that of the inner, so that the counter-weight only needs to be equal to half the weight of the double bell.

“If the counter-weight be loaded by laying on more weights, the double bell is lifted up.  At the same time the valve d’ closes and the valve d opens.  If not at the same time the india rubber tube upon r, which leads from the inner cylinder to the mask, is compressed, and thus the tube on r’ opened, which leads from the outer cylinder to the mask, the outer bell sucks air out of the mask (i.e. the lung), and the inner bell fills through its open valve d with air from the surrounding atmosphere.

“If now the counter-weight is lifted by the handle, the double bell falls down by its own weight.  If we now open the flexible tube at r and close the one at r’, the air out of the inner bell is forced through the flexible tube in the face mask (i.e. the lung).  The outer bell, on the other hand, lets air escape through the open valve d’ in the atmosphere.

“As the double bell sinks down the inner bell b pours into the mask (i.e. lung) through the tube r the air which it has previously sucked in through the valve d from the atmosphere, while the outer bell c discharges through valve d’ the air previously sucked in through tube r out of the mask (i.e. the lung).

“The degree of rarefaction and of compression may be varied by altering the counter-weight and altering the weight of the double bell by laying on lead plates.  These variation are empirically determined and multiplied by the weight belonging to the apparatus, an so measured that a suction power of -2 centimeters mercury and a compression power of +2 centimeters mercury can be obtained.”

Weil’s Double Apparatus, 1885

Weils_Double_Apparatus_1885Designed to provide compressed or rarified air and based on the theories of Waldenburg.  From Von Ziemssen’s Handbook of General Therapeutics, Volume 3, published by Smith, Elder, 1885, page 410.

“Weil at Berlin has constructed a serviceable double apparatus (fig. 23), by connecting two Waldenburg’s apparatus inferiorly bu a short india rubber tube, so that while one cylinder sinks the other rises, and conversely, so that one is ready for use as soon as the other has ceased to act.  The apparatus was not designed with the object of an alternating respiration, but, as in the one afterwards invented by Schnitzler, in order to be able to employ compressed or rarified air uninterruptedly.”