A resuscitator is a device that inflates air into a patient's lungs to assist with breathing. Firefighters usually use resuscitators if a victim has inhaled smoke from a fire and needs their lungs restored with air. Firefighters and EMT's must be properly trained to use a resuscitator because using it incorrectly can injure the patient. The first resuscitator was created in 1907.
The type of resuscitator in our collection is a Batronic Resuscitator made by Batrow Laboratories, Inc. “Batronic” is a term created by Batrow Labs referring to a current of electricity being used to stimulate a patient's diaphragm (a muscle surrounding the lungs) to regulate their breathing. This type of resuscitator, first created in 1951, uses a glass wand covered by a sponge that was dipped in water, a metal electrode placed on the patient's body, and a metal plate that is placed under the patient. The sponge covered wand is placed on a patient's abdomen to administer tiny electrical pulses that travel along nerves inside their body. The device was powered by a battery. These pulses “tingle but are painless.” Each pulse of electricity is only millionths of a second long but can go up to 60,000 volts with the amount of voltage being adjusted until the desired level of breathing is achieved.
Batrow Laboratories Inc was founded around 1949 by John Anthony Batrow. John was passionate about medical devices- one of his first devices was used to stimulate nerves and muscles in polio patients. He dedicated a room in his home to treating patients, local doctors were impressed with him and sent some of their patients to him. John built a small laboratory next to his home to further develop new devices, this laboratory is where he created the Batronic resuscitator. He struggled for many years to get a patent on the Batronic due to the process in general being arduous but also because at the time he was looked down on by patent offices for not having any political connections. Batrow Labs started operating out of a larger facility in 1963.
In 1970 the FDA deemed the Batronic to be ineffective and unsafe due to the risk of the patient getting heart damage as well as a lack of improvement with patients breathing. By that point in time, there were already safer, more effective, and less bulky types of resuscitators being used that made the Batronic resuscitator completely obsolete. The FDA went on to cease Batrow Labs from continuing to manufacture Batronic resuscitators as well as ban the use of them entirely. Those who owned a Batronic resuscitator were supposed to destroy them.
This historical artifact’s existence serves as a cautionary tale of how even devices intended to help people can accidentally harm them if they are designed using faulty information. Medical knowledge is always being updated so it is not uncommon for something like this to occur. Learning from mistakes helps to preemptively avoid making similar mistakes again before it is too late.
Written and researched by Richard an Aurora University student interning at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum studying museum studies as a minor.
Thanks to the Branford Historical Society for sharing information about Batrow Lab Inc., which was located in Branford, including an oral history with members of the Batrow family and newspaper articles discussing the resuscitator.