Portable light weight completely self-contained emergency single patient

Abstract

A portable light weight completely self-contained emergency single patient ventilator/resuscitating apparatus (10) usable at the scene of an emergency by persons with minimal training. The apparatus (10) includes a housing assembly (12) which supports a solid state oxygen generator which also acts as a power supply, the generator being in the form of a chlorate candle (20). The housing additionally supports a pump (90) in the form of a venturi ejector, a two-position valve (92), and suitable primary controls (93) which are utilized to control the inspiratory:expiratory (I:E) ratio, the inspiratory time, the expiratory time, the breaths per minute, the flow rate, the tidal volume, the minute volume, etc. Various fluid passageways (54, 58, 116, 118) interconnect the candle with the valve, and additional fluid lines (120, 138, 140, 146, 148) interconnect the valve with the pump and primary controls. The primary controls include a fixed volume timing chamber (132) which is disposed about the venturi ejector. The housing is provided with a void (98) adjacent the timing chamber, which void acts as an accumulator during the expiratory cycle. While the two-position valve is normally automatically switched between inspiratory and expiratory positions by the pirmary control, it may be manually switched from its expiratory position to its inspiratory position against full pilot line pressure by a secondary control including a push button (152) or the like when the operator desire to give extra breaths or sigh breaths. In addition, the push button can be so positioned that the valve may be maintained in its inspiratory position, which may be desirable when the patient is breathing on his own and only requires extra oxygen over that which he would normally receive from ambient air.