Artificial Arms Equipped With Watches

From The American Horologist magazine, February, 1946

Artificial Arms Equipped With Watches

Many armless men, particularly war veterans, will be equipped with the new electronic artificial arms that react to temperatures and operate on their own power. A special time-piece known as the arm-pyrometer will be strapped around the wearer's wrist. By looking at this 'wrist-watch' the the wearer can tell immediately how hot or cold it is. The watch is so precise that it will be able to take another person's pulse count.

The originator of the electronic arm is Irving Austin Goldman, a manufacturer from Alexandria, Virginia, who recently demonstrated his innovation before a group of United States Army officials who wen quite enthusiastic about it.

According to Mr. Goldman, the artificial hand has fingers that coil and uncoil. It gets its life from a pressure switch the size of a pencil tip which is fitted like a pair of teeth against the upper and lower jaw structures. By clamping the teeth together, the man will be able to pick up a pen or any similar object within his reach. The lower switch surface carries all the power and as the wearer bites down the two surfaces meet, contact is established, and the current passes through a thin flesh-colored wire extending from the mouth through the lips, down the neck into the artificial arm. The fingers, regulated by the amount of pressure put in the switch, open and close. Each artificial finger contains a series of electro-magnets. The 'wristwatch', which is a delicate instrument, records the exact temperature produced by the workings of the electronic process.

Mr. Goldman, who has also developed an artificial leg, was made director of a new firm in Alexandria. Work on these vital" products" has already begun.