Anne Chamney Explained

Anne Rosemary Chamney
Birth Date:16 April 1931
Birth Place:Amersham
Death Date:9 December 2008
Death Place:Totteridge, London
Nationality:British
Occupation:Medical engineer, inventor
Mother:Eleanor Margery Hampshire
Father:Ronald Martin Chamney

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.

Early life

Anne Rosemary Chamney was born in Amersham on 16 April 1931 to Eleanor Margery Hampshire and Ronald Martin Chamney.[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. 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.

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. 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.

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]

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anne Chamney. 2020-06-24. www.thegazette.co.uk.
  2. Book: Stanley, Autumn . Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology . 1995 . Rutgers University Press . 978-0-8135-2197-8 . en.
  3. Web site: England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 . 2022-12-09 . www.ancestry.co.uk.
  4. Web site: UK Census Online. 2020-06-29. ukcensusonline.com.
  5. Web site: 1939 Who's Who In Engineering: Name C - Graces Guide . 2022-12-10 . www.gracesguide.co.uk.
  6. Book: Stanley, Autumn, 1933- . Mothers and daughters of invention : notes for a revised history of technology . 1995 . Rutgers University Press . 0-8135-2197-1 . New Brunswick, N.J. . 31782818.
  7. Web site: The Woman Engineer Vol 10 . 2022-12-10 . twej.theiet.org.
  8. Web site: The Woman Engineer journal . 2020-06-24 . www.theiet.org . en-US.
  9. Web site: The Woman Engineer Vol 8 . 2022-12-10 . twej.theiet.org.
  10. Web site: International Patents, 1890-2020 . 2022-12-09 . www.ancestry.co.uk.
  11. https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/07/04/16/NHSyearspix0407zj.jpg?width=640 Image. NHS years
  12. Web site: Richman . Fiona Simpson, Gareth . 2018-07-05 . Amazing black and white photographs reveal NHS's incredible history . 2022-12-10 . Evening Standard . en.
  13. Wayne . D. J. . Chamney . A. R. . A New Oxygen Tent . 1967-08-12 . The Lancet . English . 290 . 7511 . 344–345 . 10.1016/S0140-6736(67)90178-X . 4143731 . 0140-6736.
  14. Web site: 10 July 1967 . Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) newspaper . 2022-12-09 . www.ancestry.co.uk.
  15. Web site: The Woman Engineer Vol 13 . 2022-12-10 . twej.theiet.org.
  16. Web site: Anne Chamney . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160730122106/http://www.gracesguide.co.uk:80/Anne_Chamney . 2016-07-30 . 2020-06-25 . Grace's Guide to British Industrial History.
  17. Web site: The James Clayton Prize | Institution of Mechanical Engineers. www.imeche.org. 26 March 2023.
  18. Web site: Fellows of the Irish Genealogical Research Society . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170530132216/http://www.irishancestors.ie:80/about/fellowship-2/ . 2017-05-30 . 2020-06-25 . The Irish Genealogical Research Society.
  19. Web site: The Woman Engineer Vol 7 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180809215934/http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_7.html . 2018-08-09 . 2020-06-25 . www2.theiet.org.
  20. Web site: The Woman Engineer Vol 9 . 2022-12-10 . twej.theiet.org.
  21. Web site: England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers, 1800-2016 . 2022-12-09 . www.ancestry.co.uk.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Anne Chamney".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.