Combating Drinking and Driving with the Breathalyzer
There’s really nothing new about the breathalyzer. This type of device has been with us since before WW II. The principle of the breathalyzer is also fairly simple. It measures a person’s Blood Alcohol Content by analyzing a sample of his or her breath.
Even as early as 1974 researchers knew that a person’s breath contained alcohol in some relation to their blood alcohol level. Research done in 1927 and conducted by Emile Bogen showed that 2 litres of expired air contained just a bit more alcohol than 1 cc of urine. In his research Bogen collected expired air in a football.
This led to an earnest attempt to develop a device that could be used in roadside tests. Drinking and driving had become a very serious issue early in the 1900s.
A device called the “drunkometer” was the first apparatus used by police in the US. It was developed in 1938 by a college professor called Harger. In fact the drunkometer was essentially a portable laboratory. The subject breathed into a balloon inside the machine, and then this sample was pumped through a solution that would change color if there was alcohol in the air sample. The more the color changed, the more alcohol was present in the breath, and therefore the higher the blood alcohol level.
One of the most recent innovations in breathalyzer devices is called the breath key. This is a small device that attaches to a keychain. The breath key was designed by breath alcohol testing specialist Ed Gollar, who also developed the breath alcohol ignition interlock systems used by courts in almost 40 states in the US. The breath key was designed as a personal breath alcohol testing device that is small, affordable and reliable.
