Early efforts to display an anesthetic patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) on cathode screens were hazardous. Because of the risk of igniting flammable anesthetic vapors, the Operating Room Monitor (ORM-1, above) shielded the monitoring device electrically, thereby minimizing risks of fires or explosions. Due to its elongated shape, the ORM-1 was fondly known in the 1960s by many anesthesiologists as a “bullet” oscilloscope. The original Westchester, New York, manufacturer of the ORM-1, Electronics for Medicine (“E for M”), was eventually absorbed by Honeywell, and then acquired by PPG Industries, before disappearing entirely from the corporate landscape. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
Early efforts to display an anesthetic patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) on cathode screens were hazardous. Because of the risk of igniting flammable anesthetic vapors, the Operating Room Monitor (ORM-1, above) shielded the monitoring device electrically, thereby minimizing risks of fires or explosions. Due to its elongated shape, the ORM-1 was fondly known in the 1960s by many anesthesiologists as a “bullet” oscilloscope. The original Westchester, New York, manufacturer of the ORM-1, Electronics for Medicine (“E for M”), was eventually absorbed by Honeywell, and then acquired by PPG Industries, before disappearing entirely from the corporate landscape. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Honorary Curator, ASA’s Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.
