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.
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.”
Nasal speculum with a “W. F. FORD / S. I. CO. N.Y.” inscription. William Fraser Ford (1820-1897) was a surgical instrument maker from England who worked in New York City.
Ref: W. F. Ford, Illustrated Catalogue of Surgical Instruments and Appliances (New York, n.d.).
City of New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
ID Number
2017.0184.053
accession number
2017.0184
catalog number
2017.0184.053
Description
Glass and metal syringe with a 10 cc. capacity, in a red cardboard box with a “BOSTON / RECORD / HYPODERMIC SYRINGE / MADE IN U.S.A.” inscription. This is an American copy of the “Rekordspritze” introduced in 1906 by the Berlin instrument maker, Dewitt & Herz.
City of New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
ID Number
2017.0184.058
accession number
2017.0184
catalog number
2017.0184.058
Description
Glass and metal hypodermic syringe with an “IDEAL / CITY OF NEW YORK” inscription on the side, and a “487” serial number. The “EAST RUTHERFORD SYRINGES” inscription on the box refers a New Jersey firm that built a factory in the early 1930s, and that acquired a new facility in 1955, primarily for distributing syringes for the new Salk polio vaccine.
In 1954, Jonas Salk’s early success with a killed polio virus vaccine led the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to implement a large-scale trial of his vaccine. James M. Norton, a third-grade student at Thornton Heights School in South Portland, Maine, was one of many children who took part in this trial. This is the button he was given at that time.
In 1954, Jonas Salk’s early success with a killed polio virus vaccine led the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to implement a large-scale trial of his vaccine. James M. Norton, a third-grade student at Thornton Heights School in South Portland, Maine, was one of many children who took part in this trial. This is the card he was given at that time.
An intubation kit sold by Haussmann, McComb & Dunn, 122 Randolph St., Chicago. The kit is contained in a leather-covered, hinged case with metal clasp and red fabric lining. The kit contains: 5 gold plated O'Dwyer's intubation tubes with metal obturators; 1 O'Dwyer's Scale (original style); 1 O'Dwyer's Introducer (with wood handle); 1 O'Dwyer's intubation tube extracto (with wood handle); 1 Waxham's mouth gag.