Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR), 1967-1968

Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR), 1967-1968

Burgess, William Alfred 1924-

Air filters

Coke

Lungs

Lung neoplasms

Respiration

Respiratory system

Partial powered air purifying respirator, black in color with removable filter. Respirator would have been attached to mask and battery pack. Silver tube extends from unit and there is small area of orange paint on front of respirator. "Ultra Filter" cartridge appears to be later addition to respirator.

Burgess, William Alfred 1924-

Ultra Filter

1967-1968, between

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Warren Anatomical Museum: 21597

object

1 partial respirator

Respirators

physical object

Warren Anatomical Museum Catalog Number: 21597

This partial powered air purifying respirator was designed and created by William Burgess between 1967 and 1968. In 1967, William Burgess submitted a proposal, which was quickly accepted, to the American Iron and Steel Institute to design new powered air purifying respirators for use in the coke ovens at steel plants. Coke oven workers exposed to clouds of contaminants produced by super-heating coal were developing lung cancer at ten times a normal rate. Burgess was hired to create respirators that would significantly reduce that rate. Burgess created power packs, filter assemblies, and small fans powered by DC motors with 3.6 volt batteries to connect to half mask respirators that would last a full eight hours per charge. Burgess assembled all one hundred respirators in the basement of his home on a library table he purchased from the Countway Library of Medicine. This partial powered air purifying respirator was donated to the Warren Anatomical Museum by William Burgess in 2015.

Respirator

12 H x 16 W x 16.5 D cm