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

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]

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. 1 2 3 "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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