The first iron lung used in the treatment of polio was invented by Philip Drinker, Louis Agassiz Shaw, and James Wilson at Harvard, and tested October 12, 1928, at Children's Hospital, Boston. The original Drinker iron lung was powered by an electric motor attached to two vacuum cleaners, and worked by changing the pressure inside the machine.
At Harvard, Philip Drinker, Louis Agassiz Shaw, and James Wilson developed the first iron lung for polio treatment, which was tested on October 12, 1928, at Boston's Children's Hospital. The initial model relied on an electric motor linked to vacuum cleaners to create a pressure change.