Iron lung is a device used to treat paralysis of the muscles of breathing. The iron lung is sometimes called a respirator or a mechanical ventilator. In cases of paralysis, the chest loses its muscle action, and the patients are in danger of suffocation because they cannot get enough air into their lungs. The use of the iron lung helps afflicted people breathe.
The iron lung is a large metal tank with an attached pump that changes the amount and pressure of the air within the tank. The patient lies inside the tank with only his or her head outside. A rubber collar at the neck keeps air from escaping. From 15 to 30 times a minute, the pump withdraws air from the tank, the patient’s chest rises, and air enters through the nose and mouth. When air flows back into the tank, the chest lowers, and the patient exhales. This process has helped many patients during severe attacks of poliomyelitis and other diseases that cause respiratory paralysis. Patients have remained in iron lungs for several years.
Two Americans, an engineer named Philip Drinker and a physician named Louis A. Shaw, developed the first practical iron lung in 1928 at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. The iron lung saved many lives during the 1950’s, when polio epidemics broke out in the United States. Today, other kinds of mechanical ventilators are more commonly used.
