Heartometer made for The Phillips Exeter Academy, ca. 1961
Description:
Images taken of a Heartometer made for the Phillips Exeter Academy, ca. 1961. There are 27 images, taken from all angles, including with the door open and with items, used with the machine, taken out of a door contained within. The pencil included in some of the photographs was not within the drawer but was added by the photographer to represent the pen. The machine may have be used by Peter V. Karpovich. Wood finish, metail hardware. Plaque on the front. It says "This Heartometer made for The Phillips Exeter Academy Cameron Heartometer co. Chicago U.S.A. Use only on IIOV. 60 Cycle"
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The heartometer was one of the first medical instruments to take measurements from visual means (lights actuated by the pulse), rather than by sound. This insured the most accurate way of measuring and permanently recording systolic and diastolic blood pressures, pulse rate, the force and character of heart action and peripheral vascular circulation throughout the extremities. Heartometers were based on the research of Mackenzie and Lewis, who pioneered graphic medical diagnosis, and also the efforts of Dr. Thomas K. Cureton, Professor and Director of Physical Education at the University of Illinois (Urbana) who adapted the Heartometer. Results were printed directly onto "Heartographs," circular paper graphs that could be interpreted by medical professionals with minimal training. The Heartometer in the collection is likely a model created in the 1960s and was made for the Philips Exeter Academy. It is not known which projects Karpovich might have used this device; however, it was a relatively ubiquitous medical device.
The pencil seen in some of the images was added by the photographer to represent the pen that would've marked he sheets used by the machine. It was not within the drawer with other pieces of the machine;
