Alexandre Lion, and within a few years incubators of various designs were being manufactured and sold in many countries including Germany, France, and the USA.Ībove: Dr. The concept was rapidly adopted and improved by other French obstetricians, notably Dr. Reportedly, Tarnier’s source of inspiration was chicken incubators in use at the time. Stéphane Tarnier, a Paris obstetrician, is credited with the formulation of the first incubator as we know them today – a glass-warmed box for with a warming source for environmental control, infection control, and the ability to observe the baby without disturbing it or exposing it to cold air.

Source: “Climate Control of Incubators related to Growth and Thermoregulation of Newborn Infants,” Thesis of Huibert Jacob Jane at the Technische Universiteit Delft.ĭenucé is often credited with the first publication of a warming device for premature and sick infants in 1857, Dr. “Warming Tub” used in Moscow Foundling Hospital. By 1850 some 40 of these incubators were used in the Moscow Foundling Hospital. Petersburg, built by an unknown craftsman under the direction of Von Ruehl, physician to Czarina Feodorovna, wife of Czar Paul 1. The first known incubator was developed at the Imperial Foundling Hospital in St. The photos of incubators through the years below demonstrate how thinking and technology has evolved over the last hundred years, eventually converging on the functionality found in all modern incubators. The diagram and design summary above is from Frank Weithoener’s excellent web page at. One part of the air escapes from the cabinet through vent holes, another part gets back into the air processing. The moistened, heated, and enriched air now flows into the cabinet with the baby.

Through a control valve additional oxygen can be supplied to the air. A fan blows filtered ambient air over a heating element and a water container. All modern incubators work on the same basic principles.

Hospital incubator babies