What led Forrest Bird to invent the respirator?
Forrest M. Bird Born Jun 9 1921 Fluid Control Device; Respirator; Pediatric Ventilator Respirator / Ventilator Patent Number(s) 3,068,856; 3,191,596; 3,842,828 Inducted 1995 On television every week in the 1960s, Dr. Kildare committed himself to making his patients better. But try as he might, some would still not respond to his treatment. At those times his hospital’s slogan was, when all else fails, ‘get the Bird.’ ‘The Bird’ was a little green box which became familiar to hospital patients throughout the world after it was introduced in 1958. Invention Impact It was the first highly reliable, low-cost, mass-produced medical respirator in the world, and it was invented by Forrest Bird. The ‘Babybird’ respirator, introduced in 1970, quickly reduced infant mortality for those with respiratory problems from 70 percent to less than 10 percent worldwide. Inventor Bio Bird was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts. His father, a World War I pilot, encouraged him to solo in an airplane by age 14
During World War II, Forrest Bird served in the Army Air Corps and became an able airplane, jet, and helicopter pilot. At that time, new designs in airplanes allowed for flight at higher altitudes, however, gear was now needed that would allow pilots to breathe at a higher altitude. These experiences began Forrest Bird life-long research into respirators. He studied medicine and became a doctor. Over the years, Forrest Bird developed Aircrew Breathing Regulators and anti “g” devices. In 1954, Forrest Bird founded the Bird Products Corporation to market and develop his respirator devices. By 1955, Forrest Bird had perfected the Bird Universal Medical Respirator for acute or chronic cardiopulmonary care. It was the first universal mass-produced medical respirator and was sold under the tradename of the Bird Mark 7 Respirator. Sources: http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/Forrest_Bird.
