Parts of a BP Cuff – Blood Pressure Cuff, Labeled

All 13 parts on the diagram

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Manual set 10

Cuff It wraps round the upper arm. The whole set is often named after it.
Bladder It fills with air, which makes the cuff tighten. The drawing cuts a window in the cloth to show it.
D-ring The free end is pulled through it before the cuff is closed. Not every cuff has one.
Hook-and-loop closure Pressed onto the matching strip, it holds the cuff closed.
Tubing A two-tube cuff has one tube from the bladder to the bulb. The other runs to the gauge.
Inflation bulb Squeezing it pumps air into the bladder.
Air release valve Turned closed, it holds the air in. Turned open, it lets the air out of the cuff.
Gauge It shows the pressure of the air in the cuff. Also called the manometer; the kind with a dial is an aneroid gauge.
Dial Its marks are the scale the pressure is read from.
Pointer It points to the pressure on the scale. Also called the needle.

Digital monitor 3

Monitor The main unit of a digital set. It measures electronically, and many pump up the cuff by themselves.
Display The numbers appear here when a measurement is finished.
Start button Pressing it starts a measurement. On many monitors the same button stops it.

How this list was compiled: Part names checked on 2026-09-30; a name is kept only when two independent sources use it. Manual set: (1) A&D aneroid blood pressure kit sheet, https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-554160 (cuff, bladder, inflator bulb, air release valve, manometer, D-ring cuff). (2) Fazzini aneroid sphygmomanometer instructions, https://archive.org/details/manual_Fazzini_Aneroid_Sphygmomanometer_User_manual (cuff, bladder, tubes, bulb, air-release valve, manometer, pointer, scale, metal D-shaped ring, the closure). (3) Lumiscope aneroid sphygmomanometer instructions, https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-554363 (cuff, D-ring, inflation bulb, air release valve, pressure gauge and its needle). (4) ERKA aneroid sphygmomanometers user manual, https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6917179 (cuff, bladder, air release valve, D-ring, the hook tape). (5) Welch Allyn aneroid spare parts catalog, https://archive.org/details/manual_Welch_Allyn_Aneroid_Sphygmomanometer_and_Stethoscope_Spare_Parts_Catalog (gauge, dial, pointer, bulb, valve). (6) Wikipedia, Sphygmomanometer, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphygmomanometer (inflatable cuff, aneroid gauge with a dial, digital monitors, the cuff round the upper arm). Digital monitor: (7) Omron HEM-711AC instruction manual, https://archive.org/details/manuallib-id-2600049 (monitor or main unit, display, START/STOP button, air tube, arm cuff). (8) Citizen CH-437C user manual, https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-554224 (main unit, display, start, air hose, cuff). Makers are named here only; the page names none. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's device is copied and nothing is traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A BP cuff, or blood pressure cuff, is one part of a set called a sphygmomanometer. The first drawing names a manual set, the second a digital monitor. Names only: nothing here is about taking a reading.

Read the full guide

Label the parts of the sphygmomanometer

The manual set is laid flat. The cuff is the cloth strip, and a window cut in it shows the bladder inside. Two lengths of tubing leave the bladder: one goes to the inflation bulb and its air release valve, the other to the gauge, which has a dial and a pointer. The second view is a digital set: the cuff rolled as it is worn, and the monitor with its display and start button.

The bladder is the part that fills with air; the cuff is the cloth that holds it.
Makers call the round unit of a manual set the gauge or the manometer.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a blood pressure cuff called?

The cuff is the cloth sleeve, and inside it is the bladder, a rubber bag that fills with air. A manual set adds tubing, an inflation bulb with an air release valve, and a gauge. Many cuffs close with a D-ring and a hook-and-loop closure.

What are the parts of a blood pressure monitor?

A digital set has three main parts: the cuff, an air tube and the monitor, which makers also call the main unit. On the monitor are the display and a start button.

What is the bulb on a blood pressure cuff called?

The inflation bulb. Squeezing it pumps air through the tubing into the bladder. The small metal knob beside it is the air release valve, which lets the air out again.

What is a sphygmomanometer?

The full name for a blood pressure set: an inflatable cuff with a gauge that shows the pressure in it. The manual kind with a round dial is an aneroid sphygmomanometer.