Wilmot Castle (1855-1941) began making sheet metal goods in Rochester in 1883, and obtained a patent (U.S.853,498) for a sterilizer in 1907. Wilmot Castle, the firm, was incorporated in 1903.
Electric sterilizer with a “PELTON / DETROIT / U.S.A.” inscription on the front. The Pelton Crane Co. was established in Detroit in 1900, when Richard Pelton, a dentist, partnered with Earnest M. Crane, an electrical engineer. Their first product was than electric furnace, suitable for dental offices. The firm was incorporated in 1910, and moved to Charlotte, N.C., after World War II.
This item is part of a collection of equipment and instruments from the laboratory and clinic of allergist Dr. Leslie N. Gay (1891 - 1978). Gay received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1917. In 1923 he founded an allergy clinic at the university and served as director for 36 years. He and clinic colleague Paul E. Carliner developed Dramamine (dimenhydrinate), a preventative and cure for seasickness.
This material was donated to the Smithsonian in 1979 by Gay’s son, Dr. Leslie N. Gay, Jr.
[SEE: Gay L. N., Carliner P. E. (1949). The prevention and treatment of motion sickness. 1. Seasickness. Science 109, 359.]
The “BETZ” inscription on this sterilizer refers to the Frank S. Betz Company that was established in Chicago in 1895, and that made and sold a wide range of medical equipment and supplies. The firm came to an end in the 1930s.
