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Invention of the artificial heart |
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Contrary to popular public perception, the artificial
heart was not invented by Dr. Robert Jarvik.
Dr. Jarvik was just a child when the actual inventor
began his work on the artificial heart. Doctors
Willem J. Kolff, Robert Jarvik, Don B. Olsen, Michael
DeBakey, John H. Gibbon, and Clarence Dennis, are
among the best-known pioneering developers of
heart-lung bypass machines and other mechanical
heart devices. But none of them was the inventor
of the artificial heart.
The actual inventor of the artificial heart held
30 different patents. They include a disposable razor,
a flameless cigarette lighter, illuminated ballpoint pen,
retractable fountain pen, an "invisible" garter belt,
an inverted novelty mask, battery-operated heated gloves,
a portable blood plasma defroster, a sectional garment for
hypothermia, a piezo-electric diaphragm, and the
artificial human heart.
Despite all his accomplishments in the field, this man
was not known as an inventor to the general public.
Paul Winchell was better known as a master ventriloquist
and entertainer. His long-running Paul Winchell-Jerry
Mahoney Show made him popular with millions of children
growing up in the 1950s and '60s. The Grammy award-winning
performer further cemented his fame by providing the voice
of Tigger for more than 30 years, in the classic Winnie
the Pooh films.
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Inventor of the artificial heart |
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In the mid-1950s, Paul Winchell studied pre-med at Columbia
University. He was involved with projects for the American
Red Cross and the Leukemia Society, work that led to several
medical patents. The artificial heart he patented was a
collaboration with Dr. Henry Heimlich, inventor of the
maneuver to save choking victims. Dr. Heimlich later
said, "I saw the heart, I saw the patent and I saw the
letters. The basic principle used in Winchell's heart
and Jarvik's heart is exactly the same." Winchell's device
was considered the prototype for the one later designed by
Dr. Robert Jarvik, which was successfully implanted in a
human in 1982. Paul Winchell was the recipient of an
honorary doctorate in Science for his invention and patent
of the artificial heart. Winchell is the original
patent holder of the artificial heart, which he later
donated to the University of Utah.
Documents from the United States Patent Office show
that February 6, 1961, Paul Winchell filed for a patent
on his artificial heart. He was granted a patent (3097366)
on July 16, 1963. The paperwork on patent 3,097,366
explains: "This invention relates to an artificial heart
and more particularly to an artificial heart capable of
substituting for a natural human heart in moving blood
through a human body. A principal object of the invention
is therefore 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. It is another object of the invention
to provide an artificial heart in which the moving parts
are sealed within a container made of a material which
is nontoxic and nonirritating to the human or animal
body and inert with respect to body fluids, the several
moving parts being made of tough, durable material which
will not wear out in use, such as nylon, and the like."
NOTE: It is not our intent to diminish the significant
medical accomplishments of the above doctors. While
several of them hold patents for various medical devices,
including new and improved artificial hearts, we simply
wish to clarify the fact that they were not the original
inventors of the artificial heart, as is commonly believed
by many.
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 Paul Winchell's artificial heart
 U.S. Patent Office documentation
 Another view of his artificial heart |
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