Both, Ted and Don

Edward and Don Both were born in Caltowie, in the mid north of South Australia in 1908 and 1914 respectively. Ted attended Jamestown High School, then went on to assist a Professor of physics at the University of Adelaide. The brothers set up a workshop at the University and together they worked on many scientific inventions, Ted coming up with the ideas, Don putting them into practice.

In 1932 Ted Both invented a world-first: a portable electrocardiograph, which became standard issue in hospitals during World War Two. Many Both inventions were associated with the medical field, such as the iron lung. The Both brothers produced a simple, inexpensive version of the artificial respirator during an outbreak of polio in Australia in 1937. Later on the Both brothers invented the humidicrib, a defibrillator, an electro-encephalograph, equipment for X-ray and blood transfusions and a foetal heart monitor, to name but a few.

The brothers also invented an early prototype of a fax machine called the Visitel. The military showed an interest in this invention, but it was never developed after the war.

In 1940 Ted invented the three-wheeled electric driven bread van, as a response to petrol rationing during the war. Many of his wartime inventions were medical, but he also invented equipment for testing weapons, such as an instrument for measuring the internal diameter of a gun barrel and a machine for cutting the material for army uniforms.

Ted Roth moved to Sydney after the war and designed electric scoreboards for the Davis Cup Tennis Competition and for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

The Both brothers continued to produce copious numbers of inventions throughout their lives and have been acknowledged as prolific inventors of medical equipment. Their inventions were produced in the Adelaide workshops of Both Equipment Limited, which relocated to Tavistock Street (now Frome Street ) and later to King William Street in Kent Town.