Philip Drinker (source code)

= Philip Drinker
{c}

\b[<Philip Drinker>] coauthored the 1929 tank-respirator report with <Louis A. Shaw>. Its apparatus enclosed the body in a sheet-metal tank with a rubber collar at the neck, leaving the head outside at atmospheric <pressure>. Changing the tank <pressure> could then expand and compress the <chest wall>.<An apparatus for the prolonged administration of artificial respiration: I. A design for adults and children by Philip Drinker and Louis A. Shaw>[Printed pp. 230–231 and Figures 1–2: tank, collar and pressure boundary conditions]{ref}

The scientific principle is a driving <pressure> difference across the <respiratory system>. In an original passive linear model, let $v$ be added lung <volume>, $R$ total resistive coefficient, $C$ total <respiratory-system compliance>, $P_{\rm ao}$ airway-opening <pressure> and $P_b$ body-surface <pressure>. About a specified <mechanical equilibrium>,
$$
R\frac{dv}{dt}+\frac vC=P_{\rm ao}-P_b.
$$
A negative change at the body surface can create a positive filling drive even when the airway remains open to room air. The pump acts on the enclosure; the resulting boundary-condition difference drives air through the <airway>.

For a stipulated step $P_{\rm ao}-P_b=10$ cm H$_2$O, $R=10\,\mathrm{cm\,H_2O\,s\,L^{-1}}$ and $C=0.05\,\mathrm{L\,(cm\,H_2O)^{-1}}$, the <time constant> is $RC=0.50$ s and
$$
v(t)=0.50\left(1-e^{-t/0.50\,\mathrm s}\right)\,\mathrm L.
$$
The initial <volumetric flow rate> is 1 L/s; after 0.50 s the added <volume> is about 0.316 L, still below the <mechanical equilibrium> increment 0.50 L. These are original model values, not measurements from Drinker's apparatus.

The equation also explains a limited equivalence: lowering body-surface <pressure> by a given amount or raising airway-opening <pressure> by that amount gives the same driving term in this model. It does not establish identical physiological effects in every respect. Upper-airway behavior, active muscles and departures from linear mechanics are absent from the calculation.

The report's importance lies in connecting an external mechanical apparatus to a sustained respiratory task with explicit <pressure> boundaries. The neck seal, accessible head and changing enclosure <pressure> describe how the intervention acts; independently observed gas movement and physiological responses establish what it achieves. The joint byline supports the coauthored contribution without assigning every construction or experimental step to one collaborator.