Beckman Oxygen Analyzer Model C2

3D Model

The Beckman Oxygen Analyzer Model C2 (mini incubator) measures the amount of oxygen and is useful in several scenarios including food safety and packaging, astronauts’ respiration, and for preventing blindness in newborn babies. In 1940, the U.S. military asked chemist Linus C. Pauling to create a device that measures the amount of oxygen in the air for use in airplanes and submarines. Pauling created a machine and eventually asked Beckman for help in manufacturing it. Beckman made some changes to the machine so that it was more efficient to produce. These changes included microscopically thin quartz fibers and a consistent method for creating glass bulbs for the instrument. These innovations helped produce oxygen analyzers in a faster and more efficient way, delivering 100 per month to the British Navy by the end of the war. For more information on the oxygen analyzer, please visit here: https://instruments.sciencehistory.org/index.html#gallery/5