Sphygmomanometers are blood pressure meters, blood pressure monitors, or blood pressure gauges are devices used to measure blood pressure, composed of an inflatable cuff to collapse and then release the artery under the cuff in a controlled manner,[1] and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure. It is always used in conjunction with a means to determine at what pressure blood flow is just starting, and at what pressure it is unimpeded. Manual sphygmomanometers are used in conjunction with a stethoscope.
A sphygmomanometer consists of an inflatable cuff, a measuring unit (the mercury manometer, or aneroid gauge), and a mechanism for inflation which may be a manually operated bulb and valve or a pump operated electrically.
