Leonidas Berry, a 1924 graduate of Wilberforce University who became a surgeon in Chicago, donated this syringe set to the Smithsonian. An inscription on one side of the metal case reads “MED. DEPT. U.S.A.” That on the other side reads “BECTON DICKINSON & CO. Admiral RUTHERFORD, N.J.”
Maxwell W. Becton (1868-1951) and Fairleigh S. Dickinson (1866-1948) began in business together in 1897, selling medical supplies and trading as Becton, Dickinson and Company. The firm, incorporated in 1904, manufactured thermometers, syringes, and hypodermic needles, in a factory in Rutherford, New Jersey.
Becton, Dickinson introduced its Admiral vest pocket hypodermic outfit in 1911, describing it as strong, durable, compact, and convenient. It consisted of a nickel silver case containing a syringe, a needle, and six tablet vials.
Ref: Fairley S. Dickinson, “Hypodermic Syringe,” U.S. Patent 723,588 (March 24, 1903).
Fairley S. Dickinson, “Case for Hypodermic Syringes,” U.S. Patent 1.059,285 (April 15, 1913).
“The Vest Pocket Hypodermic Outfit,” American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record (June 12, 1911): 62.
Becton, Dickinson ad for the Admiral hypodermic outfit in American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record (Aug. 14, 1911), p. 61.
Fairley S. Dickinson, “Case for Hypodermic Syringes,” U.S. Patent 1,059,285 (April 15, 1913).