Positive pressure ventilation

The provision of oxygen under pressure by a mechanical respirator, a machine designed to improve the exchange of air between the lungs and the atmosphere.

The device is basically designed for administering artificial respiration, especially for a prolonged period, in the event of inadequate spontaneous ventilation or respiratory paralysis.</P> The mechanical ventilator was invented in 1927 by Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw.

It consisted of an iron box (and so was called an iron lung) plus a bed and two vacuum cleaners.

The next model was made by Warren Colins and was inaugurated on October 12, 1928 at the Children's Hospital in Boston to help a girl with polio breath.