Erector set heart pump, 1950
Using a toy Erector set, William Sewell Jr. and William W. L. Glenn, Yale University medical students, built this section of a heart pump, which Sewell successfully used in experimental bypass surgery on dogs. Acquired in 1959 from Sewell's mother, this heart pump is one of many invention prototypes in the Smithsonian collections.
See also:
Medical History, Toys
