Today’s Patent- ARTIFICIAL HEART
What if you were told that a man who is a versatile comedian, voice actor, ventriloquist, and a humanitarian was also an inventor of the first mechanical artificial heart that could be implanted in a person’s chest cavity? Well yes, ladies and gentlemen, Paul Winchell is that talented celebrity who received his U.S. Patent for an ‘Artificial Heart’ on July 16th, 1963.
Amidst his 30 patents, the Artificial heart proved to be one of the most significant invention. Paul invented this device with the surgeons working at the University of Utah. They created a non-toxic device that Winchell hoped could replace a failing heart for a working organ. This invention relates to an artificial heart capable of substituting for a natural human heart in moving blood through a human body.
The principal object of the invention is to provide an artificial heart adapted to be mounted in the mediastinum in the chest of a human or animal as a total replacement for the original human or animal heart. Another motive of this invention is to provide an artificial heart in which the moving parts are sealed within a nontoxic container, serving as a non-irritating organ device to the human or animal body. The material used for the device was a tough, durable one in order to avoid wearing out of it.
Although, there were a few controversial theories that the first artificial heart was invented by Dr. Robert Jarvik as the original faux organ. Winchell’s device was invented to provide a substantially normal and moderately active life for the patients.