Gallery: The First Artificial Hearts Looked Like Bongs and Hot-Dog Carts
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The Mayo-Gibbon heart-lung machine was built in 1957 and was among the first machines to act as a beating heart during surgery. *Image: National Museum of American History*
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The machines measures nearly six feet tall and three feet wide. *Image: National Museum of American History*
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Detail view of the knobs and gauges. *Image: National Museum of American History*
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The machine lung oxygenates the blood as it flows through the body. *Image: National Museum of American History*
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The Carrel-Lindbergh perfusion pump was invented around 1935 to preserve animal organs by pumping “artificial blood” into the organ through the glass tubes that were connected to the organ’s artery. *Image: National Museum of American History*
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The AbioCor Total Artificial Heart, made in 2001, was the first electro-hydraulic artificial heart implanted in a human. *Image: National Museum of American History*
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The Jarvik-7 total artificial heart was used in the first authorized bridge to organ transplant operation, which temporarily replaces a failing heart with a mechanical pump. *Image: National Museum of American History*
