ABSTRACT
HISTORY e use of a vacuum device to assist delivery was rst attempted by James Yonge1 in 1706, who attached a “cupping glass” to the fetal scalp by creating suction with an air pump. Simpson,2 in Edinburgh, constructed a more practical suction instrument. His invention consisted of a pump that terminated in a metal cup over which a layer of leather was tted. A double-valved piston pump working back and forth created the necessary vacuum.
