Anne Rosemary Chamney | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 16 April 1931 |
| Died | 9 December 2008 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Medical engineer, inventor |
| Parents |
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Anne Rosemary Chamney CEng MIMechE (16 April 1931 – 9 December 2008)[1] was a British mechanical engineer specialising in medical equipment.[2] She is best known for her invention of a novel oxygen tent which was much cheaper than existing tents, much lighter and therefore easier to transport.[2]
Anne Rosemary Chamney was born in Amersham on 16 April 1931 to Eleanor Margery Hampshire and Ronald Martin Chamney.[2][3] She had one older brother John, born in 1928.[citation needed] According to the 1911 census, her father Ronald was an engineer with the National Telephone Company[4] and held a BSc in engineering.[5] As a young child, Chamney was ambidextrous.[6] She attended an all girls school from the age of nine until she was 16.[2] She earned an MS in biomechanics at the University of Surrey[7] and a PhD in physiology which focussed on the effect of carbon monoxide during pregnancy in rats, which influenced later research into the effect of smoking on humans during pregnancy.[2]
Chamney studied at the Royal Aeronautical Society and became an apprentice at the De Havilland Aircraft Company in Hatfield from 1953 to 1958.[8] She moved to become a Technical Assistant in the Medical Development Group[9] at the British Oxygen Company between 1959 and 1961.[2] Chamney patented an apparatus for humidifying gases in 1960 whilst working there.[10]
Later she became a senior technician at University College Hospital Medical School in London where she evaluated hospital equipment. Whilst working there, in 1966 she invented of a novel oxygen tent which was much cheaper than existing tents, it was also lighter and therefore easier to transport.[11][12] The oxygen tent was published in The Lancet in 1967[13] and received international publicity, with coverage in the United States stating that her invention cost only $50 when other oxygen tents cost up to $750.[14] She credited being able to work closely with medical staff and developing clinical knowledge as being vital to the development of relevant and useful medical equipment.[7]
By 1985, Chamney was Chief Technician in the Department of Anesthesia at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.[15]
Chamney was awarded the first James Clayton Prize in Medical Engineering from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and received an additional award in acknowledgement of her research and development work.[16][17][7]
Chamney was also a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society[18] and a member of the Women's Engineering Society.[19][20]
Anne Chamney died on 9 December 2008 and was cremated on 16 December at Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium in Barnet, London.[21]