‘Father of the stethoscope’ dies
NZPA Ridgewood, New Jersey Mr Andrew Fleischer, the father of the modern stethoscope hnd the blood pressure monitoring device, died at the age of 101, said the Becton Dickinson medical products company.
He would have been 102 next month. Mr Fleischer invented the sphygmomanometer to monitor blood pressure in 1912, providing physicians with one of their most valuable diagnostic tools. Recognising that the existing stethoscope was too crude for use "with his new invention, he refined it, first to shut out extraneous sounds
and then to make it possible to hear all the sounds of the heart with a single instrument. The Fleischer stethoscope was first marketed in 1913.
He also developed an instrument to measure fluid pressure around the spinal cord, which has been used extensively in head injury cases.
In addition to his instrument for medical diagnosis, Mr Fleischer developed an engineer’s stethoscope for testing valves and once received a letter from the explorer, Admiral Richard Byrd, saying that the device was being used at the South Pole.
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Press, 31 January 1983, Page 10
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175‘Father of the stethoscope’ dies Press, 31 January 1983, Page 10
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