{{Short description|British medical engineer, inventor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Anne Rosemary Chamney | image = Anne_Chamney.png | imagesize = | caption = | othername = | birth_name = | birth_date = 16 April 1931 | birth_place = Amersham | death_date = 9 December 2008 | death_place = Totteridge, London | burial_place = | alma_mater = | occupation = Medical engineer, inventor | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = | children = | mother = Eleanor Margery Hampshire | father = Ronald Martin Chamney | signature = }} '''Anne Rosemary Chamney''' CEng MIMechE (16 April 1931 – 9 December 2008)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anne Chamney|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/L-59069-825525?mainwebsite=1|access-date=2020-06-24|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> was a British mechanical engineer specialising in medical equipment.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Stanley |first=Autumn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRJt7QqA7GEC&dq=anne+chamney&pg=PA108-IA4 |title=Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology |date=1995 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-2197-8 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":2" />
== Early life == Anne Rosemary Chamney was born in Amersham on 16 April 1931 to Eleanor Margery Hampshire and Ronald Martin Chamney.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8782/images/ons_b19312az-0200?pId=41737224 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> She had one older brother John, born in 1928.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} According to the 1911 census, her father Ronald was an engineer with the National Telephone Company<ref>{{Cite web|title=UK Census Online|url=https://ukcensusonline.com/|access-date=2020-06-29|website=ukcensusonline.com}}</ref> and held a BSc in engineering.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1939 Who's Who In Engineering: Name C - Graces Guide |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1939_Who%27s_Who_In_Engineering:_Name_C |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=www.gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref> As a young child, Chamney was ambidextrous.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Stanley, Autumn, 1933- |title=Mothers and daughters of invention : notes for a revised history of technology |date=1995 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=0-8135-2197-1 |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |oclc=31782818}}</ref> She attended an all girls school from the age of nine until she was 16.<ref name=":2" /> She earned an MS in biomechanics at the University of Surrey<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 10 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_10.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":2" />
== Career == Chamney studied at the Royal Aeronautical Society and became an apprentice at the De Havilland Aircraft Company in Hatfield from 1953 to 1958.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer journal |url=https://www.theiet.org/publishing/library-archives/the-iet-archives/online-exhibitions/women-and-engineering/the-woman-engineer-journal/ |access-date=2020-06-24 |website=www.theiet.org |language=en-US}}</ref> She moved to become a Technical Assistant in the Medical Development Group<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 8 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_8a.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref> at the British Oxygen Company between 1959 and 1961.<ref name=":2" /> Chamney patented an apparatus for humidifying gases in 1960 whilst working there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=International Patents, 1890-2020 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/create?rtype=1&fname=&lname=&dbid=62216&pid=12544423&flowId=dbid62216&returnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2Fdiscoveryui-content%2Fview%2F12544423%3A62216%3Ftid%3D%26pid%3D%26queryId%3Dcc0273fe9a26e9149de16dfcdbd3f981%26_phsrc%3DACJ188%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26nreg%3D1 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref>
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.<ref>[https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/07/04/16/NHSyearspix0407zj.jpg?width=640 Image. NHS years] Retrieved 26 March 2023</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Richman |first=Fiona Simpson, Gareth |date=2018-07-05 |title=Amazing black and white photographs reveal NHS's incredible history |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/nhs-at-70-amazing-black-and-white-photographs-reveal-health-service-s-incredible-history-a3879671.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref> The oxygen tent was published in The Lancet in 1967<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wayne |first1=D. J. |last2=Chamney |first2=A. R. |title=A New Oxygen Tent |date=1967-08-12 |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(67)90178-X/abstract |journal=The Lancet |language=English |volume=290 |issue=7511 |pages=344–345 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(67)90178-X |pmid=4143731 |issn=0140-6736|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 July 1967 |title=Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) newspaper |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7068/images/NEWS-WI-PO_CR.1967_07_10_0017?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ACJ187&_phstart=successSource&pId=507226129&rcstate=NEWS-WI-PO_CR.1967_07_10_0017:3678,546,3838,588;2742,2158,2881,2200;3546,2504,3767,2562;3578,546,3658,588 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":3" />
By 1985, Chamney was Chief Technician in the Department of Anesthesia at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 13 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_13.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Anne Chamney |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Anne_Chamney |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730122106/http://www.gracesguide.co.uk:80/Anne_Chamney |archive-date=2016-07-30 |access-date=2020-06-25 |website=Grace's Guide to British Industrial History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imeche.org/careers-education/scholarships-and-awards/prestige-awards/James-Clayton-Prize|title=The James Clayton Prize | Institution of Mechanical Engineers|website=www.imeche.org|accessdate=26 March 2023}}</ref><ref name=":3" />
Chamney was also a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Fellows of the Irish Genealogical Research Society |url=https://www.irishancestors.ie/about/fellowship-2/#Chamney |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530132216/http://www.irishancestors.ie:80/about/fellowship-2/ |archive-date=2017-05-30 |access-date=2020-06-25 |website=The Irish Genealogical Research Society}}</ref> and a member of the Women's Engineering Society.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 7 |url=https://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_7.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809215934/http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_7.html |archive-date=2018-08-09 |access-date=2020-06-25 |website=www2.theiet.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 9 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_9.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref>
Anne Chamney died on 9 December 2008 and was cremated on 16 December at Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium in north London.<ref>{{Cite web |title=England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers, 1800-2016 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/offers/join?sub=2533566848204800&dbid=9041&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2Fdiscoveryui-content%2Fview%2F4670022%3A9041%3Ftid%3D%26pid%3D%26queryId%3Da27a610641a935de2f3f7e4fda12c8eb%26_phsrc%3DACJ190%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&gsfn=&gsln=&h=4670022 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref>
== Selected publications == * Wayne, D.J., and Chamney, A.R. (1969) Oxygen tent performance. Physics in Medicine & Biology, 14(9) [https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/14/1/302 Oxygen tent performance] * Wayne, D.J., and Chamney, A.R. (1969) Oxygen tents: A comparison of two techniques. Anaesthesia, 24(4) [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2044.1969.tb02913.x Oxygen tents.: A comparison of two techniques] * Chamney, A.R. (1969) Humidification Requirements and Techniques. Including a Review of the Performance of Equipment in Current Use, 24(4) [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2044.1969.tb02914.x Humidification requirements and techniques.: Including a review of the performance of equipment in current use]
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamney, Anne}} Category:1931 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Alumni of the University of Surrey Category:British mechanical engineers Category:20th-century British women engineers Category:Medical devices Category:Women's Engineering Society Category:British inventors Category:20th-century women inventors Category:People from Amersham