From “Experiments on the metabolism of matter and energy in the human body, 1900-1902”. US Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations – Bulletin No. 136, by W.O. Atwater and F.G. Benedict, frontispiece.
The respiration chamber was an open-circuit design. Carefully conditioned room air was drawn into the chamber and then evacuated through soda-lime canisters. The chamber was carefully insulated and kept at a constant temperature by circulating water.
From A Respiration Calorimeter with Appliances for the Direct Determination Oxygen, By Wilbur Olin Atwater, Francis Gano Benedict. Published by Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1905, page 165.
Photo is probably from a catalog. Manufactured by the Caille Brothers in 1904. A penny arcade machine that tested the user’s grip and lung power. From the National Jukebox Exchange.
Made by the Mills Novelty Company in 1904. Photo is from a catalog. Only 3 of these machines are known to still exist. Operated by placing a penny in the slot, and blowing in the hose which caused the balloon to rise until it reached the moon which then lit up and smiled. From the National Jukebox Exchange.
The diverse, quirky and mostly forgotten history of Pulmonary Function testing