Iron lung, Philips Eindhoven, c. 1946
Inv V10090

Before the great national vaccination campaigns bore fruit, poliomyelitis was still common in the Netherlands. This illness becomes life-threatening if the respiratory muscles are affected. As a solution the iron lung was invented in the 1950s. This apparatus looks like a submarine on dry land. The polio-sufferer lies in the compartment, with only his head sticking out. By successively pumping air in and out of the compartment underpressure and systolic pressure is created. In this way a patient was artificially respirated. Placing a movable mirror above the patient's head allowed them to look around a little. A door at the side allowed nursing access. It often took weeks, sometimes even months before the illness was cured. Just imagine, lying still for months on end, and without even any TV!