Breathalyzer Test History

The origin of the personal breathalyzer device, or known in the U.K as breathalyser, dates all the way back to 1927. However, dating back even earlier, as far as the year 1874, is the use of breath to test for the presence of alcohol in an individual’s body. In those early dates, simple observations were made that alcohol could be emitted from one’s breath in minute quantities. It was not until 1927 that tangible devices were made for the purpose of testing alcohol in air and in breath, and then in later years following, devices were made that were put to use by law enforcement. There are many types of breathalizer. We have a lot of coverage of these at Buy Breathalyzer.

Breathalyzer Test Info

Emil Bogen, in 1927, used football bladders to test and analyze air that he had collected in them. By containing the air in the football bladder and testing the air for the presence of alcohol, his research concluded that 2 litres of expired air had the alcohol content of just a little more content that what 1 cc of urine contains. Many cases and devices were devised in 1927. W.D. McNalley, the same year, created a breathalyzer test device using water. The tested breath would move about chemicals in the water, indicating alcohol with certain color change. Again, in 1927, Dr. Gorsky, a police surgeon, used a the football bladder method to figure out that a suspect was drunk. In 1938, a more practical device was created for testing possible drunk drivers through law enforcement. It was called the “drunkometer,” and it was created by Professor Rolla H. Harger. The way in which it worked was that the breath sample was taken from the individual by use of a balloon connected to the device. The breath was put into an acidified potassium permanganate solution. Here, color indication was used again. If alcohol was present in the breath, it could easily be determined how much was present by observing how much the color changed, but it still was not completely accurate.

More about Breathalyzer Test

However, it is Dr. Borkenstein’s breathalyzers test, that is accepted to be the first device that analyzes an individual’s actual blood alcohol content (BAC) using a sample of breath. He was an Indiana state police officer and professor at Indiana University at Bloomington, and it was in 1954 that he came up with his breathalyzer test device. It used chemical oxidation and photometry to figure the alcohol content. Any kind of breathalyzer test was an easier way for law enforcement to test somebody’s BAC quickly and efficiently, and these later devices, were much less invasive to the test subject. Newer devices after Borkenstein’s mostly use infrared spectroscopy. We have breathalyzer reviews for many different types!