overall, as stored with cord: 7 7/8 in x 6 1/4 in x 13 in; 20.0025 cm x 15.875 cm x 33.02 cm
overall: 18.3 cm x 12.6 cm x 27 cm; 7 7/32 in x 4 31/32 in x 10 5/8 in
Object Name:
pacemaker
pacemaker, external
Place made:
United States: California, San Francisco
Date made:
1958
1957
Description:
There are many reasons for an irregular heartbeat including congenital anomalies and congestive heart failure. Sixty years ago physicians could provide little relief for patients who suffered from a heart that was beating to fast or to slow. Besides a handful of pharmaceuticals which didn’t always work, doctors were stymied as to how to help their ailing patients.
This external pacemaker was cobbled together by Dr. Herman N. Uhley (1926-2012). The cost of the pacemaker was $25.00, and materials included vacuum tubes from a Sylvania television. Dr. Huley’s pacemaker was put into service when a sixty-eight year old male patient no longer responded to heart medication. The patient was successfully hooked up to Huley’s pacemaker
Today when we chance to reflect about implantable pacemakers, we envision a small ovoid-shaped device, and assume the surgical procedure to implant it is routine and safe. The number of pacemaker implantations, approximately 100,000 annually in the United States reinforces this perception. Indeed, just about everyone has a relative or an acquaintance who has one.
But before implantable pacemaker appeared in the scene in the early 1960’s there were several attempts to regulate irregular hearts with external pacemakers. Pacemakers were originally developed for use in 10% of patients who experience slowed heart rhythm after surgery for the repair of septal defects.
Since the 1920’s there was interest in devices which could help regulate the heart. In 1952 Paul Zoll (1911-1999) demonstrated the first successful external pacemaker. Between 1955 and 1958 Zoll co-authored several articles which appeared in medical journals about stimulating the heart with electrical pulses to control the pacing of irregular hearts. His success inspired others to build their own pacemaker’s. Uley’s is one of such devices in the Smithsonian Collections. Uhley and his pacemaker represent a time prior to the 1976 FDA surgical device regulation when doctor’s tinkered at home or in hospital laboratories building devices and, in special cases, trying them out on patients.
