Anthony Adducci
Encyclopedia
Anthony J. Adducci was a pioneer of the medical device industry in Minnesota. He is best known for co-founding Guidant
Corp. precursor Cardiac Pacemakers, inc., now part of Boston Scientific
, the company that manufactured the world's first lithium
battery powered artificial pacemaker
.
receiving the BS degree in Physics in 1959. He did additional study in electrical engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois and in business administration at the University of Minnesota
.
In 1960, he was employed as an acoustical engineer for the Jensen Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois where he engaged in the design and development of loudspeakers and horns.
In 1961, he joined International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation in Chicago Illinois where, as a development engineer, he instructed numerous training courses on digital data communication systems and as a senior test engineer directed ITT personnel in electro-interference testing of the Boeing Minuteman (missile) for the Strategic Air Command
. He also taught hi-level courses to the Air Force
in Biloxi, Mississippi.
While in Chicago in 1963, Adducci worked with a local physician and developed an electronic ear thermometer used to detect the time of ovulation in the human female. Anthony developed a little earplug and a recording device that would measure the tympanic temperature and got his wife, who was a nurse, to measure her temperatures, and they were able to predict ovulations. They published a paper in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
s, INC.) biomedical area.
In August 1964, he accepted a position with the Sperry Rand Corporation's UNIVAC
Division in St. Paul Minnesota as a system design engineer engaged in the logic design of computer peripheral equipment.
In April 1966, he joined Medtronic
as a Sales Engineer. Anthony was the ninetieth employee at the time. While at Medtronic he served in various technical and marking responsibilities including, sales administration manager, and pacemaker consulting specialist. He taught surgeons around the United States in the basics of how pacemakers work, the physiology of the cardiovascular system and the instructions to insert the pacemaker into the body. Anthony was involved in over fifty surgeries while at Medtronic.
In February 1972, he co-founded Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (CPI) of St. Paul, Minnesota. CPI was a highly successful start up venture, going from zero sales in 1972 to over $47 million and highly profitable when it was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company
in 1978 for $127 million.
In August 1998 he became the Commander of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Community Service Posse in Arizona.
, battered woman and special educational programs for the elderly.
An improved heart pacer including the conventional combination of a pulse generator, electrode means, and electrode leads coupling the pulse generator to the electrodes, wherein the battery power source of the pulse generator is a solid-state battery with a lithium
anode
and a lithium-iodide electrolyte.(see Wilson Greatbatch
, ed.). The pacer structure is enclosed in a hermetically sealed metallic enclosure, with means being provided in the enclosure for passing electrode leads in sealed relationship therethrough. The outer surface of the casing is polished metal*, and is continuous in all areas. In certain instances, the continuity may be with the exception of the zone through which the external electrode leads pass.
*In the patent
claim the term polished metal * was used as an all-encompassing description. The initial commercial artificial pacemaker
, under the patent in 1972, used stainless steel
as a non-hermetic
encasing medium. Continuing research led to use of the more biologically compatible titanium
in a welded hermetically sealed pacemaker in 1976.
Guidant
Guidant Corporation, part of Boston Scientific and Abbott Labs, designs and manufactures artificial pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, stents, and other cardiovascular medical products. Their company headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their main competitors are Medtronic, St...
Corp. precursor Cardiac Pacemakers, inc., now part of Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific
The Boston Scientific Corporation , is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices whose products are used in a range of interventional medical specialties, including interventional cardiology, peripheral interventions, neuromodulation, neurovascular intervention,...
, the company that manufactured the world's first lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
battery powered artificial pacemaker
Artificial pacemaker
A pacemaker is a medical device that uses electrical impulses, delivered by electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart...
.
Early life
Anthony J. Adducci was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 14, 1937. He was married to Sandra Gordon, had three children: Michael, Brian, and Alicia. He has five grandchildren. He attended Saint Mary's University of MinnesotaSaint Mary's University of Minnesota
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota is a private, comprehensive, coeducational university with an undergraduate campus in the city of Winona, Minnesota, United States...
receiving the BS degree in Physics in 1959. He did additional study in electrical engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois and in business administration at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
.
In 1960, he was employed as an acoustical engineer for the Jensen Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois where he engaged in the design and development of loudspeakers and horns.
In 1961, he joined International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation in Chicago Illinois where, as a development engineer, he instructed numerous training courses on digital data communication systems and as a senior test engineer directed ITT personnel in electro-interference testing of the Boeing Minuteman (missile) for the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
. He also taught hi-level courses to the Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...
in Biloxi, Mississippi.
While in Chicago in 1963, Adducci worked with a local physician and developed an electronic ear thermometer used to detect the time of ovulation in the human female. Anthony developed a little earplug and a recording device that would measure the tympanic temperature and got his wife, who was a nurse, to measure her temperatures, and they were able to predict ovulations. They published a paper in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
s, INC.) biomedical area.
In August 1964, he accepted a position with the Sperry Rand Corporation's UNIVAC
UNIVAC
UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...
Division in St. Paul Minnesota as a system design engineer engaged in the logic design of computer peripheral equipment.
In April 1966, he joined Medtronic
Medtronic
Medtronic, Inc. , based in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the world's largest medical technology company and is a Fortune 500 company.- History :...
as a Sales Engineer. Anthony was the ninetieth employee at the time. While at Medtronic he served in various technical and marking responsibilities including, sales administration manager, and pacemaker consulting specialist. He taught surgeons around the United States in the basics of how pacemakers work, the physiology of the cardiovascular system and the instructions to insert the pacemaker into the body. Anthony was involved in over fifty surgeries while at Medtronic.
In February 1972, he co-founded Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (CPI) of St. Paul, Minnesota. CPI was a highly successful start up venture, going from zero sales in 1972 to over $47 million and highly profitable when it was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
in 1978 for $127 million.
In August 1998 he became the Commander of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Community Service Posse in Arizona.
Board of directors
- Catholic CharitiesCatholic CharitiesCatholic Charities is a network of charities whose aim is "to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same." It is one of the largest charities in the United States...
of the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis - Trustee of Saint Mary's University of MinnesotaSaint Mary's University of MinnesotaSaint Mary's University of Minnesota is a private, comprehensive, coeducational university with an undergraduate campus in the city of Winona, Minnesota, United States...
. - Development Committee of the North American College of Rome
- Health Advisory Council of the College of St. CatherineCollege of St. CatherineSt. Catherine University is a private Catholic university for women located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. There is also a campus in Minneapolis. Enrollment is 5,246 students. With approximately 2,900 bachelor's students, it is the largest university for women in the United States. Its...
in St. Paul, Minnesota - Deltec in Arden Hills (founding director)
- Medical Graphics in Vandais Heights (founding director)
- Dimensional Medicine in Minnetonka (founding director)
- Delphax in Minnetonka (founding director)
- CAPSULE design in Minneapolis (founding director)
- North American Banking Companies (founding director)
Charity
Adducci founded The Adducci Family Foundation. A Charitable foundation with special interest in child abuseChild abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, battered woman and special educational programs for the elderly.
Honors
- Knight Grand CrossKnight Grand CrossKnight Grand Cross is the most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are obsolete. The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the recipient to use the title 'Sir' or 'Dame' before his or her name...
of the Order of the Holy SepulchreOrder of the Holy SepulchreThe Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic order of knighthood under the protection of the pope. It traces its roots to Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, principal leader of the First Crusade...
of Jerusalem - Knight in the Order of Malta.
- Commander of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Community Service Posse.
- 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do Karate
- 3rd degree black belt in AikidoAikidois a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...
and founder of the Minnesota Ki Society. - St. Mary's University Distinguished Alumnus
Publications
- "Transient Distortion in Loudspeakers" 1961 May–June, Issue IRE Transactions on Audio, Volume AU-9, Number 3, pp. 79–85, 1961 IRE International Convention Record.
- "Ovulation Detection by Internal Cranial Temperature Measurements", January, 1965, Issue IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering, Volume BME-12, Number 1, pp. 2–7.
- "Special Electrical Considerations in the Intensive Coronary Care Unit", 1970 September Issue, The Journal of Extra-Corporeal Technology.
Held Patents
- PT#: 3822707 Metal-Enclosed Cardiac Pacer with Solid-State Power Source - Image Document
- PT#: 3822707 Metal-Enclosed Cardiac Pacer with Solid-State Power Source - Text Document
An improved heart pacer including the conventional combination of a pulse generator, electrode means, and electrode leads coupling the pulse generator to the electrodes, wherein the battery power source of the pulse generator is a solid-state battery with a lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
anode
Anode
An anode is an electrode through which electric current flows into a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: ACID ....
and a lithium-iodide electrolyte.(see Wilson Greatbatch
Wilson Greatbatch
Wilson Greatbatch was an American engineer and inventor whois most widely known as the inventor of the implantable cardiac pacemaker...
, ed.). The pacer structure is enclosed in a hermetically sealed metallic enclosure, with means being provided in the enclosure for passing electrode leads in sealed relationship therethrough. The outer surface of the casing is polished metal*, and is continuous in all areas. In certain instances, the continuity may be with the exception of the zone through which the external electrode leads pass.
*In the patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
claim the term polished metal * was used as an all-encompassing description. The initial commercial artificial pacemaker
Artificial pacemaker
A pacemaker is a medical device that uses electrical impulses, delivered by electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart...
, under the patent in 1972, used stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
as a non-hermetic
Hermetic seal
A hermetic seal is the quality of being airtight. In common usage, the term often implies being impervious to air or gas. When used technically, it is stated in conjunction with a specific test method and conditions of usage.-Etymology :...
encasing medium. Continuing research led to use of the more biologically compatible titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
in a welded hermetically sealed pacemaker in 1976.