George Poe, artificial respirator, laughing gas and Elkridge

George Poe, Jr. (1846-1914) was born at 'Elkridge Landing', was a cousin of Edgar Allen Poe and invented the artificial respirator (patented in 1907). He also was the first to liquefy nitrous oxide - laughing gas - for commercial use in the 1880s, and other gas 'firsts' (see below). According to his Washington Post obituary, he was mentioned for a Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Poe was the son of Elizabeth Ross Ellicott (1810-1881) and George Poe (1808, or 1807-1879).

“When is life Extinct?” 1907 article -

"The artificial respirator… “is only one of the many valuable discoveries and inventions which Professor Poe has given to the world, and he has long been regarded as a high authority upon gases at high pressure.

He was the first to compress oxygen and hydrogen gases in cylinders for calcium light purposes, and also the first to liquefy nitrous oxide and compress it in cylinders for commercial use. Peroxide of hydrogen was first prepared by him in this country as a commercial product.

A recent invention of Professor George Poe, of South Norfolk, Virginia, has proven…under some circumstances to restore life when the subject is “dead.”  The apparatus is modeled as nearly as may be after nature, its action being almost identical with that of the human lungs. The years of experimenting had proved to the inventor that in order to revive persons drowned, suffocated, or whose death had been caused by anaesthetics, it was necessary to remove the poison gases in the lungs, replacing these gases with oxygen, and it was to accomplish this double purpose that his present device was constructed.

The apparatus embodies two small cylinders, each having an inlet and an outlet, plungers within these cylinders working simultaneously. Tubes lead from each of the cylinders, to be connected .to the nostrils or mouth of the patient. The inlet of one cylinder is connected with a suitable supply of oxygen, and the outlet of the other cylinder discharges directly into the atmosphere. The plungers are driven by hand, and timed to correspond to normal respiratory movements, and this action of the plungers in one movement draws the gases from the lungs into one cylinder, while the next movement forces oxygen from the second cylinder into the lungs.

The value to humanity of this simple device can scarcely be overestimated, as it places in the hands of the physician an apparatus by which artificial respiration can be effectively and accurately maintained, and in one use alone, that of preventing infant asphyxiation, or strangulation through weakness of the respiratory organs, will undoubtedly prevent thousands of deaths. Practically all danger of death from the administration of too large anaesthetic doses is eliminated, as the machine will sustain artificial respiration as long as may be necessary. A man in a drunken stupor may be quickly sobered by using the machine to quicken his respiration, and, as death by freezing is simply a form of asphyxiation, it could be avoided by the use of the apparatus. Being so simple in design, the machine will, of course, be comparatively inexpensive, and it is only a question of time when all life saving stations and ambulances, as well as hospitals, will be equipped with them.

The artificial respirator has been patented by Professor Poe in the United States and in the principal foreign countries, and will soon be placed upon the market.”

“When is life Extinct?” By Emmett Campbell Hall.  The Technical World Magazine  August 1907

Among other patents
Gas-Generators  to generate oxygen from sodium peroxide  1909

Weather strip 1891   felt strip with flexible backing – mentioned later in a 1950 refrigerator door replacement gasket patent

Other articles

"Poe’s Chemical Works"   in Trenton, NJ.  From Trenton Times 1883

“George Poe is Dead”  Washington Post Feb 3, 1914

 
©2017 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD