Micro-Dynameter SA-1
notes: label: Description
content: Francis Cutler Ellis, an engineer in Chicago, devised the Ellis Micro-Dynameter in the early 1930s. This device, it was said, would “make the human body function as a simple electrical cell and measure the current it generates.” And it could diagnose virtually every human ailment. It was marketed by Ellis Research Laboratories, in Chicago, and endorsed by prominent chiropractors. It was widely accepted by chiropractors for diagnosing “subluxations” and became their main bioelectrical instrument. The FDA seized this example, a Model SA-1, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1967.
label: Description
content: Ref: Francis Cutler Ellis, “Improvement in or Relating to Methods of and Apparatus for Determining the Electrolytic Condition of an Animal Body,” British Patent GB429595A (1933).
label: Description
content: Francis Cutler Ellis, <i>Micro-Dynamics: New Science in Diagnosis and Treatment</i> (1933).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.274347.012
label: accession number
content: 274347
label: catalog number
content: M-12020
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Micro-Dynameter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: silver crinkle finish (overall material)