Pacemaker Controls

Throughout history, the medical field has advanced to adapt to modern health defects and issues in need of solving. African American inventor and engineer, Otis Frank Boykin paved the way for his noteworthy pacemaker with a patent he filed for his idea of a wire precision resistor in 1959. Boykin desired to find a preventative measure for heart failure given that his mother passed from the condition when he turned one. With his desire to save lives, 31 years later, Boykin designed the resistor to send electrical currents to help regulate a heartbeat which influenced the pacemaker control unit. 

Two years following, Boykin earned a second patent for a uniquely inexpensive electric resistor which influenced International Business Machines Corporation(IBM) to use his ideas in their computers. The United States military also began using his resistor designs to build guided missiles. Boykin’s resistors continued to gain popularity as he eventually earned 12 U.S. patents related to resistors and minuscule electronic units over the course of his career. 

“The Pacemaker was able to save a relative of mine’s life because it helps control his heart rate. After a severe heart attack, it helped the left side of his heart, which was severely damaged, to actively pump blood through his heart which he could not do on his own. Without this invention, he would not be able to live the healthy, active lifestyle that he is getting to now,” NC parent Maria Blanco said.

The Pacemaker now obtains long-lasting effects, achieves low manufacturing costs and has allowed for greater improvement for patients aftercare. Boykins technology paved the way for the 27 patent electrical units and the resistor which would become part of the Pacemaker control unit. Without the instrumental ideas of Boykin’s work, Pacemakers would not have achieved the same level of pacing technology throughout the advancing medical field.