Anne Chamney

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
Born16 April 1931
Died9 December 2008
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Medical engineer, inventor
Parents
  • Ronald Martin Chamney (father)
  • Eleanor Margery Hampshire (mother)

Early life

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. 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]

Career

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]     

Selected publications

References

  1. "Anne Chamney". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  2. Stanley, Autumn (1995). Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2197-8.
  3. "England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  4. "UK Census Online". ukcensusonline.com. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  5. "1939 Who's Who In Engineering: Name C - Graces Guide". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  6. Stanley, Autumn, 1933- (1995). Mothers and daughters of invention : notes for a revised history of technology. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2197-1. OCLC 31782818.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "The Woman Engineer Vol 10". twej.theiet.org. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  8. "The Woman Engineer journal". www.theiet.org. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  9. "The Woman Engineer Vol 8". twej.theiet.org. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  10. "International Patents, 1890-2020". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  11. Image. NHS years Retrieved 26 March 2023
  12. Richman, Fiona Simpson, Gareth (5 July 2018). "Amazing black and white photographs reveal NHS's incredible history". Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. Wayne, D. J.; Chamney, A. R. (12 August 1967). "A New Oxygen Tent". The Lancet. 290 (7511): 344–345. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(67)90178-X. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 4143731.
  14. "Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) newspaper". www.ancestry.co.uk. 10 July 1967. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  15. "The Woman Engineer Vol 13". twej.theiet.org. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  16. "Anne Chamney". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  17. "The James Clayton Prize | Institution of Mechanical Engineers". www.imeche.org. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  18. "Fellows of the Irish Genealogical Research Society". The Irish Genealogical Research Society. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  19. "The Woman Engineer Vol 7". www2.theiet.org. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  20. "The Woman Engineer Vol 9". twej.theiet.org. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  21. "England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers, 1800-2016". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
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