Asepto Syringe
Asepto Syringe
- Description
- The Asepto was advertised as a plungerless all-glass syringe with a closely fitting rubber bulb of exactly the same capacity as the barrel of the syringe, so that the syringe is filled or emptied with one compression of the bulb. The bulb slips into, not over, the barrel of the syringe, making sterilization easier. And the form prevented "fluid from entering the bulb when the syringe was inverted.” The inscription on this example reads "ASEPTO NO 3035 / Becton Dickins & Co."
- The form was devised by Oscar O. R. Schwidetzky (1875-1963), a German-born instrument maker who served an apprenticeship before emigrating to the United States. In time, Schwidetzky became director of research at Becton, Dickinson & Co.
- Ref: Oscar O. R. Schwidetzky, “Syringe,” U.S. Patent 1,349,474 (Aug. 10, 1920), assigned to Becton, Dickinson & Co.
- Arthur H. Thomas, Laboratory Apparatus and Reagents (Philadelphia, 1921), p. 569.
- Becton, Dickinson ad for Asepto Syringes in American Journal of the Medical Sciences 166 (Sept. 1923): 36.
- “Oscar O. R. Schwidetzky Dies; Inventor of Medical Instruments,” New York Times (Oct. 11, 1963), p. 36.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- syringe
- Other Terms
- Non-Hypodermic
- Physical Description
- glass (overall material)
- rubber (bulb material)
- Measurements
- box:;
- 4.875
- ID Number
- 1980.0698.190
- accession number
- 1980.0698
- catalog number
- 1980.0698.190
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mary E. and Joseph F. Melfi, Jr., Tupper's Drug Store, Summerville, South Carolina
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.