Bellows

your right. they make a loud whoooshing sound and a loud bang.

It must've been a great workout, trying to operate one of these babies manually. Kind of like trying to drive a massive car without power steering.

The connecting linkages from the gearbox to the two layer bellows were
modified chevy front end steering parts.
The cupped bearing halves, tension springs, and tapered ball joints were difficult to find until I found "chev's of the 40's.com. who knew what I was needing and repeatedly called me over the next two and a half years to update me on their progress of finding the three ball joints needed for my friend's lung.
Unexpected wold class service fo these days and times. kudos to Chev's!

When there was an electrical storm the hospital would have all of us iron lung patients moved into a huge room where nurses sat, one per iron lung, and waited until the power went off. The room was bathed in a yellowish light. The hospital generator would not power the iron lungs, but just some lights.

The nurses would run to the foot of the iron lungs and disengage the bellows linkage and start pumping the bellows by hand.

But the time between when the power went off until she started pumping (abt. 45 seconds) was like a lifetime for us. The room filled with the sound of many clicking tongues because that is the only noise you can make when you can't breathe to talk.

Sounded like a room full of chickens!! lol

You could feel your heart beating but until she started breathing you, there was about 30 seconds to 45 seconds of sheer terror.

Then the nurse would start pumping and in would rush that wonderful breath you needed.

Awesome memory for me.

Martha L OK~ With your memory you have literally brought this photograph to life for me. This is what is so wonderful about this site when people are connected to these photographs personally and post their memories.
Thank you so much for sharing that!

Wow, Martha - incredible!

Hey come visit my site.

You can see me now and then in the drop down box upper right under "mars".
My art is there too.

http://360.yahoo.com/m...xL2KQ6sG75FYT8GuteNe

Don't know if this is an urban myth, but I have heard that in third world countries, if you cannot breathe for whatever reason, you can be intubated by the doctor at the hospital, but there may not be enough ventilator machines available at the time.

The way you survive is for family members to all take turns bagging you (inflating your lungs for you like you see on E.R. and others).

Wouldn't pay to not be liked in your family, or be very, very rich or have an uncle who falls asleep easily.

Doesn't anyone find it repulsive that the states running these hospitals couldn't afford some back up generators to run the iron lung respirators in the event of a power outage? It is not like we are talking about food spoiling in a refrigerator or going without heat for a few hours, there were peoples lives at stake. I cannot even imagine what Martha and the rest of the patients were going through during a power outage, but sheer terror is all that is running through my brain at this instant. I am just sorry they had to go through this nightmare. This is just another example of our government is screwed up!

Did anyone actually get better and got out of this chambers, or is this something that prolongs your life but you die anyway?

A humble and profound thank you for this education. My parent's generation faced this situation, and now I am very clear what that meant.

They look like 3 different colored gummy bears.