Wayne Everett Quinton (January 4, 1921 – January 22, 2015) was a developer of over 30 biomedical devices, including the Quinton catheter. He also invented a lightweight treadmill, for cardiac stress testing - the prototype of those used in fitness centers. Quinton was raised in

Rigby, Idaho Rigby is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Idaho, United States. The population was 3,945 at the 2010 census, up from 2,998 in 2000.

. He received a degree in mechanical engineering from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

in 1959. He previously attended Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) and

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 field ...

. A week after

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

, he arrived in Seattle and began working for Boeing to work on the

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bomber. He was hired by the University of Washington for an Arctic Acclimatization study and subsequently as the sole member of the instrument shop. Among Quinton's inventions was a shunt with Belding Scribner and David Dillard that allowed for repeated kidney dialysis procedures on an individual, making the process one that truly extended the patient's life expectancy. He was also involved with the following inventions: structure to allow

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

patients to get into a sitting position; movable camera boom and cart to reduce time taking autopsy photos; uniform University of Washington lucite bubble

oxygenator An oxygenator is a medical device that is capable of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood of human patient during surgical procedures that may necessitate the interruption or cessation of blood flow in the body, a critical organ or ...

for use during open-heart surgery; hydraulic gastrointestinal biopsy instrument;

Mitral valve The mitral valve (), also known as the bicuspid valve or left atrioventricular valve, is one of the four heart valves. It has two cusps or flaps and lies between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart. The heart valves are all on ...

finger knife for use during open-heart surgery; small

aortic valve The aortic valve is a valve in the heart of humans and most other animals, located between the left ventricle and the aorta. It is one of the four valves of the heart and one of the two semilunar valves, the other being the pulmonary valve. T ...

dilator for use during open-heart surgery; high-speed machine to test fatigue in artificial heart valves;

Teflon Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Che ...

tracheotomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The ...

plug to aid patients with

paralytic polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...

. Although Quinton was raised in a rural

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

community, it wasn't until age 35 that he was baptized a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

. Wayne Quinton died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

, age 94, at his home in the Highlands area of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

Notes

References

UW article on Quinton's inventions
* ttp://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20030623&slug=dialed23 ''Seattle Times'' obituary of Scribner that mentions Quintonbr>"Latter-day Saint goes from small town Idaho farm boy to engineering pioneer"
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the '' Deseret News'' and the '' MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It i ...

'', January 16, 2010
''Seattle Times'' obituaryWayback Machine archive of ''Seattle Times'' obituary
*Thomas, George I., Presidential Address, K. Alvin Merendino: His Contribution to Surgery, ''Am. J. Surg,'' May 1985, Vol 149, (5): 574-579 (Quiinton's contribution to Oxygenator, p. 575) 1921 births American Latter Day Saints American biomedical engineers Brigham Young University–Idaho alumni Converts to Mormonism 2015 deaths Montana State University alumni University of Washington College of Engineering alumni {{US-med-bio-stub