Boy in Emerson Respirator (NCP 4145), National Museum of Health and Medicine
Boy in Emerson Respirator (NCP 4145), National Museum of Health and Medicine
Description: A boy with polio in the Emerson Respirator (Iron Lung) viewing the photographer (Joe Clark) in the machine's mirror. Herman Kiefer Hospital, Detroit, MI.
An Emerson Respirator, also known as an Iron Lung, was a machine which enabled a person to breathe on their own when muscle control had been lost (often due to poliomyelitis). It used negative pressure ventilation to induce inhalation. These machines are rarely used in modernity.
Date: circa 1955
Photo ID: NCP 4145
Source Collection: OHA 250: New Contributed Photographs Collection
Repository: National Museum of Health and Medicine, Otis Historic Archives
Rights: No known restrictions upon publication, physical copy retained by the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Publication and high resolution requests should be directed to NMHM (www.medicalmuseum.mil).