The Inventors

Abstract

Amongst Australian anaesthetists there have been many whose ingenuity and mechanical knowledge produced ingenious devices. Lidwill and Geoffrey Kaye come immediately to mind, and their contributions are well-described elsewhere. In this paper, two inventions with contrasting fates are described: the Grant Humidifier and the Komesaroff single-use analgesia device. Graham Grant's invention addressed the problem of rain-out in a most ingenious manner The device was compact, efficient and deserved greater commercial success, but a similar apparatus developed in New Zealand was better supported and captured most of the market. Grant has a degree in engineering, acquired before his medical degree, but David Komesaroff spent only a year in the Engineering Faculty before transferring to Medicine. Nevertheless, he has remained interested and in touch with technical matters, and has a number of other devices to his credit. Mention is briefly made of others: Stokes (of the suction bullet), Bill Cole (an early volatile specific vaporiser), Fisk (the paediatric ventilator) and Noel Cass (the Cass needle) These achievements are by no means the end of the road. Already an Australian-designed single-use laryngoscope is being manufactured and launched on both the national and international markets.