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Labor-Saving Centrifuge
This Apparatus for facilitating the birth of a child by centrifugal force was submitted to the US patent office in 1965 by George and Charlotte Blonsky. The basic idea: use centrifugal force to give an "artificial gravity assist" to women in labor.
(Labor-saving centrifuge)
Robert Heinlein actually makes use of this same idea, in a high-tech variable gravity way, in his 1973 opus Time Enough for Love:
My stool was bolted to the deck, I had added a seat belt. As I strapped myself down, I reminded them that we had a rough ride coming-and this we had not been able to practice; it would have risked miscarriage. "Lock your fingers, Joe, but let her breathe. Comfortable, Llita?" "Uh-" she said breathlessly. "I-I'm starting another one!" "Bear down, dear!" I made sure my left foot was positioned for the gravistat control and watched her belly. Big one! As it peaked, I switched from one-quarter gravity up to two gravities almost in one motion-and Llita let out a yip and the baby squirted like a watermelon seed right into my hands. I dragged my foot back to allow the gravistat to put us back on low gee even as I made a nearly instantaoeous inspection of the brat...
(Read more about Heinlein's artificial gravity-assisted centrifuge)
Via Medgadget; thanks to Winchell Chung (@nyrath) for submitting this item.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/17/2010)
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