1933: RESUSCITATION: VINTAGE SEESAW TECHNIQUE

A life-saving seesaw has been invented by a University of California scientist to revive those whose hearts have stopped, as the result of certain kinds of accidents. While oxygen is forced into the lungs and heat is applied to the body, the patient will be rocked steadily up and down on the pivoted plank, to which he will be strapped, lying on his back. The theory is that the steady change in position will cause gravity to send the blood coursing through the veins and will start the heart beating. The apparatus, the inventor points out, is for use only in certain cases where the patient has met with an unusual accident.

Source: Popular Science April, 1933

Submitted to NEMSM April 2007 by Valerie DeFrance under permission from modernmechanix.com