Category Everyday Science

   

           A sphygmomanometer is a device used to measure blood pressure. One of the most important men in the development of the sphygmomanometer was the Austrian physician Karl Samuel Ritter Von Basch. The first clinically applicable sphygmomanometer was invented by him in 1881. Von Basch introduced the aneroid manometer, which uses a round dial that provides a pressure reading.

               An improved version was introduced by Scipione Riva-Rocci in 1896. Later, in 1901, the neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing introduced Riva-Rocci’s device in the USA, modernized it and popularized it within the medical community. In 1905, Russian physician Nikolai Korotkov discovered ‘Korotkov Sounds’ and included diastolic blood pressure measurement.

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               A barometer is an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure.

               It was during the 17th century that a series of experiments conducted by Italian scientist Evangelista Torricelli resulted in the invention of a basic barometer.

               Torricelli was the first to notice that air pressure changes, related to weather changes, indeed caused the water level to rise and fall within a 35 foot tube experiment he set up within his home. He later used mercury in it.

               The barometer utilizes the principle that as atmospheric pressure pushes down on the surface of the mercury in the cistern, the mercury in turn, pushes up with an equal pressure in the glass tube.

               It wasn’t until about the year 1670 that barometers began to be used as a weather instrument in homes since 1670.

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            A stethoscope is a dependable clinical tool used for the physical assessment and monitoring of a patient. The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a French scientist, Rene Laennec. He placed a rolled piece of paper between the patient’s chest and his ear; he found that this could amplify the sound of the beating heart. This was readily accepted, as it did not require physical contact.

            In 1851, Irish physician Arthur Leared invented a basic binaural stethoscope. In 1852, George Philip Cammann introduced the modern binaural stethoscope for commercial production. Rappaport and Sprague designed a new stethoscope in the 1940s, which became the standard by which other stethoscopes are measured.

            In the early 1960s, an improved model was developed by David Littmann. Later, in 1999, Richard Deslauriers patented the first external noise reducing stethoscope, named DRG Puretone.

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            A syringe is a medical device that is used to inject fluid into, or take fluid from, the body. The word ‘syringe’ is derived from the Greek word syrinx, meaning ‘tube’. Primitive syringes were used by Romans syringes were used by Romans during the 1st century AD. They are mentioned in a journal called De Medicina as being used to treat medical complications.

            In 1899, Letitia Mumford Geer of New York was granted a patent for a syringe design that permitted the user to operate it single-handedly.

            Later, in 1946, the Chance Brothers in England produced that first all glass syringes with an interchangeable barrel and plunger. Charles Rothauser invented the world’s first disposable plastic hypodermic syringe in the late 1940s. Then, in 1956, a New Zealander, Colin Murdoch was granted a patent for a disposable plastic syringe.

            Later, many forms of syringes were introduced, among which the hypodermic syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce the skin, by Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood, was the most iconic one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Paper making is one of the inventions made by the Chinese. Paper, as we know it today, was first made in China by Cai Lun, a Chinese court official.

            From 3000 BC onwards, the Egyptians started using papyrus made from dried reeds as a writing material. Parchment and vellum were used in the 2nd century BC in Turkey.

            The kind of paper used in the Middle East during the 8th century was made from linen, rags, and flax cord. However, this paper reached Europe only in the 10th century AD.

            As paper became common mills were built. The very first paper mill in England was built in 1494. The rise of literature soon increased the demand for paper. The continued use of rags and cloth made large-scale production impossible.

            This demand was met in 1800, when a Dutchman, Mathias Koops patented a paper made from straw and wood.

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               During the 13th century AD, sharpened goose feathers were widely used as quill pens in Europe.

               Metal pens were considered fancy and ornamental, even during the 16th century. Bryan Donkin is credited with having invented the steel nib. In 1822, John Mitchell of Birmingham started to mass-produce steel pen nibs, and their popularity took off.

               In 1832, John Joseph Parker became the first to introduce a pen which had its own reservoir of ink. When he was trying to invent a pen that could write on leather, John J. Loud invented the first ballpoint pen. He patented it in 1888 in America. But this was not commercially successful.

               In 1943, Ladislao Jose Biro launched a new model, using quick drying ink.

               Ink had been there even before the invention of the pen. Primitive men used natural inks made from charcoal and iron oxide. In 2000 BC, Chinese scribes used a durable ink made from soot mixed with gum solution.