Hotel Dieu Hospital Dept. of Anaesthesia, Kingston Collection
Category
Diagnostic & Treatment Artifacts
Classification
Cardiology
Accession Number
997008009 a-c
Description
(a) Operating room cardioscope, which is a heavy cylindrical instrument on a cylindrical pole set into a rubber-covered square fiberglass base with four wheels, at each underside corner; the base has two foot-pedals for raising and lowering the cardioscope; the front of the machine has a glass scre…
(a) Operating room cardioscope, which is a heavy cylindrical instrument on a cylindrical pole set into a rubber-covered square fiberglass base with four wheels, at each underside corner; the base has two foot-pedals for raising and lowering the cardioscope; the front of the machine has a glass screen with two dials inside which read beats per minute and seconds; to the right f the screen is a leads dial in minivolts, which led to a recorder; to the left of the screen is another dial which controls leads to the patient; the top of the machine has a panel with 7 knobs; these knobs control sensitivity, meter zero, intensity, vertical sweep, focus and alarm; there is an electric cord coming off the machine on the right side which would have led to the recorder; there are two electric cords coming off the left side; one would have been plugged into an electrical outlet and the other would have been attached to (b) leads to the patient; these leads consist of a black electric cord, one end of which attaches to the cord on the machine and the other which separates off into 5 leads: red (RA), black (LA), green (RL), white (LL), and brown (P); all of the leads except (P) have ends which would have been put into the patient (via needles) for monitoring purposes; instrument also comes with (c) a plastic cord with a metal coupling at the end.
Number Of Parts
3
Part Names
a - operating room cardioscope - Size: Length 121.1 cm. x Width 47.8 cm. x Depth 72.3 cm.
b - patient leads - Size: Length 379.6 cm. x Width 3.5 cm. x Depth 1.2 cm.
c - cord - Size: Length 8.2 m x Diam. 4.0 cm
Provenance
Purchased by and used at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
(a) The top instrument panel has each knob labelled and also reads, "CAMBRIDGE // OPERATING ROOM // CARDIOSCOPE // INSTR. No. 0-215347 // MADE FOR // CAMBRIDGE INSTRUMENT CO., INC. // OSSINING, N.Y."; the metal area around the glass screen reads, "IN HAZARDOUS ATMOSPHERES THIS COVER // MUST BE KEPT TIGHT WHILE CIRCUITS ARE ALIVE // CROUSE-HINDS"; pressure-sensitive tape removed from the left dial had the letters "E.C.G." written on it; (b) leads labelled "RA // LA // RL // LL // P"
Permanent Location
Storage Room W1
W1-6-1
Condition Remarks
The cardioscope arrived very dirty and dusty; the cream paint has several chips; none of the exposed metal shows any corrosion; the rubber matting on the base has small missing sections at the corners; the electric cord is uncracked; the dials at the right and left both had pressure-sensitive tape residue, as does the leads attachment at the machine cord; the end of lead (P) is missing
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Person
Reference Comments
Dr. Ray Matthews
Research Facts
This 1950's electrocardiograph is a very rare and early model and one of the first to be used in the operating room; prior to mechanized means of monitoring the patient, the pulse was taken manually; this machine was used to monitor the patient's heart rate and rhythm; it had no paper trace or direct readout; this machine featured a screen in case of sparks, as the gases employed (ether and cyclopropane) were flammable and explosive; the leads dial on the right would have led to a record calibrator
Exhibit History
On exhibit in Museum gallery, anaesthesia exhibit - Oct. 2 1997-Sep. 23, 1999