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For people who choke on their food, the device invented by Bahman Litkouhi
and Robert Abplanalp of New York, could be a life-saver (WO 99/2203). It
consists of a rubber cup, a tube and cylinder with a vacuum sealed with a
diaphragm. When you cover someone’s mouth with the cup, it forms an airtight
seal, with the tube protruding into the mouth. As you push the other end of the
pipe into the cylinder a sharp point pierces the diaphragm. The inventors claim
that the suction this creates will dislodge anything stuck in the throat and
suck it out of the mouth.