Permissible gas mask for organic vapors, Type WIG G1, made by the Willson Products Division of The Electric Storage Battery Co., in Reading, Pa.
Gile Johnson Willson (1824-1888) and his son, Thomas A. Willson (ca. 1853-), both of Reading, Pa., began experimenting with optical glass in 1871, with the aim of making safety eyewear. T. A. Willson & Co. built a glass factory, hired workers from France and Belgium, and mounted an exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. The firm became Willson Goggles, Inc. in 1913, and later Willson Products. By 1966, the firm had become a Division of The Electric Storage Battery Co. The factory in Reading closed in May 2002.
Philip Drinker (1894-1972) was an industrial hygienist at the Harvard Medical School. Louis Agassiz Shaw, Jr. (1886-1940) was a physiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. Working together in the late 1920s, the two men devised a respirator for polio patients that, by 1930, was known as an iron lung. Drinker and Shaw received the John Scott Medal for this work in 1931. An inscription on this example reads "DRINKERS RESPIRATORS / PATENTS PENDING / Made By / WARREN E. COLLINS INC. / Specialist in Metabolism Apparatus / 555 HUNTINGTON AVE., BOSTON, MASS. / NO. 3."
Ref: L. A. Shaw and P. Drinker, (1929), "An Apparatus for the Prolonged Administration of Artificial Respiration: I. A Design for Adults and Children," Journal of Clinical Investigation 7 (1929): 229–247.
Philip Drinker and Charles F. McKhann, “The Use of a New Apparatus for the Prolonged Administration of Artificial Respiration: I. A Fatal Case of Poliomyelitis,” (1929).
“Two Harvard Men Devised Respirator,” Boston Globe (Aug. 15, 1931), p. 11.
Joseph Rossman, “Drinker Patents Held Invalid,” Science 82 (1935): 221-222.
“Louis A. Shaw, 54; Respirator Expert,” New York Times (Aug. 28, 1940), p. 19.
“Prof. Philip Drinker Dies at 77; A Co-Inventor of the Iron Lung,” New York Times (Oct. 21, 1972), p. 36.
“Warren E. Collins Funeral Tomorrow, Scientific Appliance Maker Developed Oxygen Tent,” Boston Globe (Nov. 28, 1935), p. 21.
William David Coolidge (1873-1975), an American physicist working for General Electric, introduced a new hot cathode x-ray tube in 1913, with articles sent to scientific publications, and demonstrations given to physicians and radiologists, many of whom saw the advantages for diagnostic purposes and cancer treatments. This early Coolidge tube was used at the University of Maryland.
Ref: William David Coolidge, “A Powerful Roentgen Ray Tube with a Pure Electron Discharge,” Physical Review 2nd Ser. 2 (1914): 409-430.
General Electric Company, Coolidge X-Ray Tube (Schenectady, N.Y., 1920).
Green sharkskin with silver trim. Thumb lancet inside.
General History
There was a vast array of hardware associated with bloodletting, but the most common item used was a lancet. A lancet was a small, sharp, two-edged knife. Using a lancet required much skill as one false move could cut a nerve or tendon.
Instrument designed for locating bullets and other foreign material in bodies. An inscription on the lid of the box reads “ETABLISSEMENTS GAIFFE / COMPASS DE MR LE MEDECIN PRINCIPAL HIRTZ / POUR LA RECHERCHE DES PROJECTILES.” The form was invented in 1907 by E. J. Hirtz, a French medical officer and head of physiotherapy at a military hospital, and widely used during World War I. Ladislas Adolphe Gaiffe (1832-1887) was an important electrical instrument maker in Paris who began in business in 1856. He was succeeded by his son, G. Gaiffe. By the 1920, the firm was trading as Etablissements Gaiffe-Gallot & Pilon.
Ref: L. Ombrédanne and R. Ledoux-Lebard, Localization and Extraction of Projectiles (London, 1918), p. 214.
Alexander Fleming, working in England in 1928, discovered penicillin but could not produce enough for medical use. Following the advent of World War II, the British and American governments supported efforts to mass produce this potentially life-saving drug. Chas. Pfizer & Co., in the U.S., had great success with deep tank fermentation. This sealed glass ampule has a paper label that reads in part “PENICILLIN CALCIUM SALT” and “CHAS. PFIZER & CO., INC.” and “Do Not Use After 12-10-43.”
The inscriptions on the handle of this toothbrush read “BRISCO” and “KLEANWELL” and “57.” The form was available by 1910, was apparently made in France.
Four paper packages with inscriptions that read “blades by / cooper” and “BLADE BY COOPER / OF SURPASSING EXCELLENCE / UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEED. / COOPER SAFETY RAZOR CORP. / 35 YORK ST. / BROOKLYN, N.Y. / MADE IN U.S.A. REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.” Other inscriptions read “THIS BLADE IS MADE OF / HIGHEST QUALITY SURGICAL / CHROME STEEL BY A UNIQUE / PATENTED PROCESS. / MONEY REFUNDED IF NOT / SATISFACTORY.” Cooper Products Co. filed for a trademark in 1932.
Red plastic safety razor in a case with an inscription in the lid that reads in part “. . . PLASTI- / PACK / PAT. NO. / . . .” Inscriptions on the cardboard package for the blade(s) read in part “Goldtone / DOUBLE EDGE / BLADE” and “The unique Goldtone pro / cess adds longer life and / smoother shaves. / SANITARY and / RUST RESISTING.” The form was on the market by 1944. Daniel C. Dillon, Jr., d.b.a. D. C. Dillon & Co., obtained a trademark in 1944.
Ref: Daniel C. Dillon, Jr., “Collapsible Safety Razor,” U.S. Patent 2,325,751 (Aug. 3, 1943), assigned to Dillon-Beck Manufacturing Co.
Cardboard package with inscriptions that read “EVERSHARP / SCHICK” and “magazine / razor / blades / not for use / in injector / razors” and “6 / cartridges.” The package contains two metal cylinders.
Jacob Schick, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, established the Magazine Repeating Razor Co., in Newark, N.J., in 1923. Within a few years, he had filed for patents, and begun producing the injector razor. Eversharp, a firm know for its pens, acquired the firm in 1946, and renamed it the Schick Safety Razor Division of Eversharp, Inc.
Ref: Jacob Schick, “Safety Razor,” U.S. Patent 1,724,969 (Aug. 20, 1929).
Ad for Schick Repeating Razor in Life 92 (Nov. 16, 1928): 39.
Morell Mackenzie (1837-1892), an eminent British physician who specialized in diseases of the throat, modified the Physick tonsillotome, largely by adding a stout handle that could be placed on either side. This Mackenzie tonsillotome belonged to William Hallock Park (1863-1939), a physician who directed the Pathology, Bacteriology, and Disinfection Laboratory of the New York City Board of Health for many years.
Ref: Morell Mackenzie, Diseases of the Throat and Nose (Philadelphia, 1880), vol. 1, pp. 26-30.
Fahnestock-type tonsillotome that belonged to William Hallock Park (1863-1939), a physician who directed the Pathology, Bacteriology, and Disinfection Laboratory of the New York City Board of Health for many years.
A metal plate on the side of this pump reads in part “IVAN SORVALL / NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A.” and “SERVALL LABORATORY AIDS.” Ivan Sorvall (1897-1922) was born in Stockholm, trained in commercial matters, moved to the U.S. in 1922, and began importing Swedish merchandise. In 1930 he organized Ivan Sorvall, Inc., manufacturers of centrifuges and other laboratory equipment. The trademark of the firm was “Servall.”
Ref: “Ivan Sorvall,” New York Times (Nov. 11, 1952), p. 29.
With the Reinhardt desiccator, “the whole interior space can be used.” And, “the air-tight ground glass cover cannot slip off, as the flange around the top is slightly turned upward.” C. Reinhardt (1859-1905), a German chemist, introduced the form in the 1890s.
Ref: Eimer & Amend, Revised and Enlarged Catalogue of Bacteriological Apparatus (New York, 1907), p. 157.
The Kjeldahl digestion rack, designed to determine protein, nitrogen and ammonia content of organic compounds, was developed by the Danish chemist, Johan Gustav Christoffer Thorsager Kjeldahl (1849–1900). A tag on this example reads in part “MODERN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND / PRODUCTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT / ENGINEERED AND BUILT BY THE / PRECISION SCIENTIFIC CO. / Made in U.S.A. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.”