Category Archives: Drawing

Spirometer, Narragansett Machine Co., 1916

Spirometer_Narraganset_Machine_Co_1916

From: Catalogue of Gymnastic Equipment, Narraganasett Machine Company, 1916, page 152.

“The wet spirometer is generally admitted to be the only device for measuring lung capacity that will continue to record accurately.  There is no rubber reservoir to leak or harden and crack in two or three years; an air cylinder immersed in water never leaks or wears out.  The air cylinder is made of sheet zinc, and as it is made on an arbor they are exactly the same size and capacity, and record accurately their cubic contents. This cylinder is carefully balanced by weights that run in the tubes at the sides.  The side tubes are polished brass and one of them is graduated to measure the height, and consequently the volume contained in the cylinder. One side of the tube is graduated to cubic inches, the other to cubic decimeters.  The stopper at the left lets the air out of the cylinder for it to descend, and that at the right has has been replaced by a valve to let the water out of the tank. All parts except the brass tubes are finished in white. It has a capacity of 400 cubic inches or 6.5 cubic decimeters (liters).

A convenient shelf is made to hold the spirometer when no other support is available.

No. 595.  Wet Spirometer.  Weight 25 pounds.  Packed for shipment.”