page_title: Edward Both
section_title: Both Equipment Limited
hierarchical_section_title: Edward Both / Both Equipment Limited
caption_attribution_description: English: A patient at the 110th Australian Military Hospital receiving treatment in an iron lung, 1943. Comment&#160;: This is now the Hollywood Private Hospital in Nedlands, Perth, Western Australia.
context_page_description: Edward Thomas Both was an Australian inventor credited with the development of a number of medical, military and general-purpose inventions. These included a low-cost "iron lung", a humidicrib, the first portable electrocardiograph and the "visitel" – a forerunner to the modern fax machine. His inventions gained him an OBE in 1940, and his work led to Both being given the moniker of the "Edison of Australia".
context_section_description: Both was soon considered to be the "foremost among designers of intricate tools of the medical trade in South Australia". Both's cardiograph was an improvement on previous examples because it showed the heart's action instantly. Working with his brother Donald, Both spent the next four years meeting orders for their electrocardiograph – for many years their products were the only commercially available direct-wiring models, and the ECGs they produced provided very accurate readings.
  An outbreak of poliomyelitis (polio) in Australia during 1937 saw a need for iron lungs to help those stricken with the disease. However, there were only a few such devices in Australia, and the US-built iron lungs were both expensive to purchase and hard to maintain. Thus the company was approached to develop an alternative. The result was the Both Respirator: a lightweight, comparatively inexpensive respirator made out of plywood (the name "iron lung" continued to be used by many, in spite of the wooden construction). The design proved effective, and the respirators were soon employed throughout Australia. Indeed, even as recently as 2003 there were several Both respirators still being used in private residences.
  In 1938 Both was in England to sell his ECG machines when he heard a request over BBC Radio for an iron lung to assist an individual suffering from poliomyelitis. With the assistance of the South Australian Agent-General, Both set up shop in a hired workshop and produced a few of his "cabinets", one of which was featured in a film produced by the Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics at Radcliffe Infirmary. The film was viewed by William Morris (Lord Nuffield), who was inspired to construct the devices at his Morris Motors LImited factory and offer them, free of charge, to any hospital in the Commonwealth that requested one. In the years that preceded World War II, approximately 1800 Both-Nuffield respirators were supplied to hospitals around the world.
  A request for information from America about Both's respirator was sent because of the lower cost of the device to fight poliomyelitis. Both arranged for an American company, K.N.Y Scheerer Corporation to produce the respirator in America.
  On his return from England Both created an ultracentrifuge for isolating very fine viruses. It was the first of its kind in Australia and could be used on the polio virus.
caption: A Both Cabinet Respirator being used to treat a patient at the 110th Australian Military Hospital in 1943
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