This device is a real artifact of Soviet medical equipment. Before you is a capillary viscometer VK-4 (Gesa), released in 1963 at the Moscow plant "Medsanborudencia". on the tubes there are cracks and metal parts traces of oxidation What is this device? Viscosimeter VK-4 is designed to determine the relative viscosity of the blood. In medicine at that time, this was an important indicator: high viscosity could indicate the risk of thrombosis, hypertension or sticking, and low - anemia or problems with clotting. The method is based on a comparison of the speed of movement of two liquids - the examined blood and distilled water - by two identical capillary tubes at the same pressure. Detailed description and equipment the set is saved quite well. Here's what it consists of: Holder with capillaries: Wooden base, on which two glass tubes (pipettes) with divisions are fixed. They are marked with scales: one for water, the other for blood. Glass pipettes: spare graded pipettes. The passport states that they are selected in pairs, since their internal diameter should be as identical as possible. Rubber tubes: Used to create a vacuum (sucking). Usually the doctor pulled air through the common tee so that both liquids began to move at the same time. Glass tee and tap: Allow both tubes to be connected to a single rubber pear (or mouthpiece) for uniform pressure distribution. Certificate (passport): Device number "140", release date - 1963. The mark of the TCI confirms the accuracy of calibration. How it was used (The Hess Principle) Distilled water was collected in one tube to the mark "0". In the second tube, fresh blood (the son-in-law from the finger) was recruited to the "0" mark. With the help of a rubber tube, she began to carefully suck the air. Liquids begin to move with capillaries. As soon as the blood reached the "1" mark, the suction was stopped. We looked at the division of the second tube: how much division the water went through in the same time. Result: If the water has passed the path five times larger than the blood, so the relative viscosity of the blood is 5. History of medicine: VK-4 is a classic of laboratory diagnostics of the mid-20th century. Materials: In modern clinics use automatic analyzers