Via Viso Cardiette: HP and Sanborn

The Sanborn Viso Cardiette device opened with front panel open showing printing area.

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View of the top of the Sanborn Viso Cardiette device.

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Back of the Sanborn Viso Cardiette case (top open).

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The Sanborn Viso Cardiette closed (angled view).

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Back of the Sanborn Viso Cardiette case with some components visible through small mesh screen.

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Close up photo of the accessories compartment built into the lid of the Sanborn Viso Cardiette case.

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Close up view of the top of the Sandborn Viso Cardiette device showing name placard.

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Date: 1961

Hewlett-Packard entered the line for medical instruments — and acquired its first East Coast division — with the acquisition of Sanborn Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1961. Founded in 1917, one of the company’s most famous products was the portable Viso Cardiette, which could print out a record of a patient’s heartbeat. Sanborn’s multichannel printing technology also found great success in the aerospace industry, where engineers used it to measure mechanical vibrations on their structures.