Philip Drinker versus John Haven Emerson: Battle of the iron lung machines, 1928-1940

The "iron lung," originally known as the Drinker respirator, was developed in 1928 by Dr Philip Drinker and Dr Louis Agassiz Shaw to improve the respiration of polio patients. In 1931, John Haven Emerson, an inventor from Cambridge, MA, enhanced the design of the Drinker respirator and int...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of medical biography Vol. 28; no. 3; p. 162
Main Author Dhawan, Naveen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.08.2020
Subjects
Equipment Design - history
History, 20th Century
Humans
Respiration, Artificial - history
Respiration, Artificial - instrumentation
United States
Ventilators, Negative-Pressure - history
United States
iron lung
Philip Drinker
John Haven Emerson
polio
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Summary:The "iron lung," originally known as the Drinker respirator, was developed in 1928 by Dr Philip Drinker and Dr Louis Agassiz Shaw to improve the respiration of polio patients. In 1931, John Haven Emerson, an inventor from Cambridge, MA, enhanced the design of the Drinker respirator and introduced a new and highly improved model of the iron lung that was cheaper and significantly lighter. Dr Drinker eventually filed a lawsuit against Emerson for alleged patent infringement. In his defense, Emerson argued that devices that help save human lives should be widely accessible to all patients. He also questioned the novelty of Drinker's design, claiming that Drinker's device comprised of patented technology that existed since the late 1800s, and that he therefore did not have full ownership of the machine's intellectual property. Ultimately, the case backfired on Drinker, as he not only lost the court case but also lost the entire panel of patents that were in his possession.
ISSN:1758-1087
DOI:10.1177/0967772017733680