The inscriptions on this metal cylinder read “GEBAUER’S / ETHYL CHLORIDE S.P.” Those on the green cardboard box read in part “100 GRAM TUBE / GEBAUER’S ETHYL CHLORIDE / FOR LOCAL AND GENERAL ANESTHESIA / STRICTLY CHEMICALLY PURE / THE GEBAUER CHEMICAL CO. / Manufacturing Chemists / CLEVELAND, O., U.S.A. / CAUTION:-POISON-INFLAMABLE.”
Charles Gebauer and his brother Theophil began in business in Cleveland in 1899 and incorporated the Gebauer Chemical Co. in 1902. Their main product was ethyl chloride, an anesthetic substance that, heretofore, was only available from Germany.
Ref: Charles L. Gebauer, “Receptacle for Containing and Administering Volatile Liquids,” U.S. Patent 668,815 (Feb. 26, 1901).
Charles L. Gebauer, “Receptacle for Containing and Administering Volatile Liquids,” U.S. Patent 711,045 (Oct. 14, 1902).
Sidney Yankauer (1872-1932)—an ear, nose and throat doctor who practiced at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York—introduced a wire-mesh anesthesia mask around 1904. This example, suitable for use with ether or chloroform, was made by Reed & Barton, an American silversmith firm that began in business as such in 1824.
Ref: “Dr. S. Yankauer Dies At Age of 50,” New York Times (Aug. 28, 1932), p. 25.
In this anesthesia inhaler, cloth is stretched over a wire frame, providing a large surface for the evaporation of an anesthetic such as chloroform dripped onto the cloth. Friedrich von Esmarch (1823-1908), a German surgeon, introduced the form in 1877.
Glass tube with a “GEBAUER’S PATENT ETHYL-CHLORIDE TUBE / MANUFACTURED BY / THE CLEVELAND LIQUID GAS CO. / Cleveland, Ohio” inscription. Theophil H. Gebauer was a founding partner of the Gebauer Chemical Co.
Ref: Theophil H. Gebauer, “Inhaling Apparatus,” U.S. Patent 821,354 (May 22, 1906).
Cardboard box with inscriptions that read in part “Dr. R. B. Waite’s / TRADE MARK (Registered) / ANTISEPTIC / LOCAL ANESTHETIC / FOR / PAINLESS OPERATIONS / IN ALL MINOR SURGERY / Contains 2% PROCAINE (Poison) / MANUFACTURED BY / THE ANTIDOLOR M’F’G CO / SPRINGVILLE, Erie Co., N.Y. U.S.A.” Ralph Britain Waite (1871-1965) was a graduate of the Philadelphia Dental College. Antidolor was a coal tar derivative introduced to the market and trademarked in 1892.
Glass vial with paper label that reads in part “SALVATION (TRADE/MARK) ETHYL CHLORIDE C.P. / FOR THE INDUCTION OF REGIONAL LOCAL AND GENERAL ANAESTHESIA” and “PURITY CHEMICAL CO. / PURE CHLORIDE OF ETHYL / SALVATION TRADE MARK.”
Glass bottle with paper label that reads “Chemisches Institut Dr. Thilo & Co. / Dr. Thilo’s Chloraeth. . . / Chemisch reines Aethylchlorid.” Dr. Thilo’s Chemical Institute in Mainz, Germany, introduced ethyl chloride for local or general anesthesia. The stuff was available in the United States by 1903.
Glass vial with paper label that reads in part “Fries Bros., / MANUFACTURERS AND DISTRIBUTORS / OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS / NEW YORK / 92 READE ST. / WATSESSING / NEW JERSEY” and “KELENE / ETHYL CHLORIDE U.S.P.” Another paper label reads “DISTRIBUTORS / MERCK & CO., INC. / RAHWAY NEW JERSEY.” Fries Bros. was in business by 1900, and had a facility in Watsessing by 1910.
Nasal inhaler for anesthesia designed by William Harper De Ford, a physician and dentist in Des Moines, Iowa, and manufactured by the Stratford Cookson Company in Philadelphia.
Ref: William H. De Ford, “Inhaler,” U.S. Patent 1,050,621 (Jan. 14, 1913), assigned to E. de Trey & Sons.
Glass bottle designed to hold the chloroform that would be dripped onto the chloroform inhaler that was introduced in 1877 by Friedrich von Esmarch (1823-1908), a noted German surgeon, and that would prove popular for several decades.