The first machine to effectively maintain respiration for victims of polio was the iron lung. Invented in 1927 by Harvard researcher Philip Drinker, the original iron lung was nothing more than two vacuum cleaner blowers attached to an iron tank. Patients would lay inside the tank while the air inside was compressed and released simulating regular breathing patterns. Treatments can last anywhere from a few hours to a few years. Although polio was the first disease treated by the iron lung, a number of individuals with other conditions have benefited from the machine including stroke victims, patients with brain tumors, and those with spinal cord injuries. The iron lung photographed here was donated to the state of South Dakota in 1938.