Improved portable premature neonatal incubator by Oxygenaire

Improved portable premature neonatal incubator, Oxygenaire Ltd., England, 1965-1970

This revolutionary incubator for sick and premature babies was designed and developed in 1964 by Graham Grant while he was a medical student at St Mary’s Hospital in London. The unit was designed to transport infants born at home to hospital by ambulance and was powered by the vehicle’s battery. Further units were kept in standby mode at Queen Charlotte’s maternity hospital in London, ready for emergency use. This example was acquired from Farnborough Hospital in 1986.

Grant originally trained as a mechanical engineer in Sydney before moving to the UK to study medicine, specialising in anaesthesia. To help fund his studies, he worked on Wednesday afternoons as a design consultant for the medical equipment manufacturer Oxygenaire Ltd. at their nearby Shepherd’s Bush factory.

The company’s existing portable incubator, ambulance staff reported, struggled to retain enough heat to keep a premature baby alive on the coldest winter nights. Grant spent the next two years developing and refining his improved model, which featured a double-layered Perspex shell for optimal insulation. Its egg shape served to further reduce heat loss by minimising the internal surface area. A motor-operated blower circulated warm humidified air across the chamber, and the chrome railing protected its precious cargo from any knocks encountered in a moving ambulance.