KYMOGRAPH

Typical Number in Hospital:

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Literally this means a wave-writer, and so the term could be applied to almost any form of chart recorder. The term is most commonly used to mean a simple form of chart recorder having a rotating drum around which the recording paper is wrapped and the writing pen moves along the length of the drum as the input signal changes. These are rather old-fashioned instruments, often driven by clockwork, and in some cases the outside of the drum is blackened with soot instead of using recording paper. The recording stylus then scribes a visible line in the soot. Kymographs are still found from time to time in hospital equipment such as spirometers in which a simple mechanical linkage between the breath-sensing cylinder or bellows can operate the recording pen without the need for electronics.