Forms of intravenous injection and infusion began as early
as 1670. However, Charles Gabriel Pravaz and Alexander Wood were
the first to develop a syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce
the skin in 1853.
Extract from:
"Blood and Blood Transfusions"
By Major R. Ellison, Surgeon 33rd Regiment, 1st Brigade Virginia
Vol.
Many of the technical difficulties which had faced those experimenting
with blood transfusion were removed after 1853 by the invention
of the hypodermic syringe, with its hollow pointed needle. Credit
for the evolution of this universally useful appliance is usually
given to Doctor Alexander Wood (born 1817), who was appointed Secretary
of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1850. For some
time, Doctor Wood had been experimenting with a hollow needle for
the administration of drugs. Eventually, he felt confident enough
to publish in "The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Review"
a short paper - 'A New Method of treating Neuralgia by the direct
application of Opiates to the Painful Points' - in which he showed
that the method was not necessarily limited to the administration
of opiates. At about the same time, Charles Gabriel Pravaz of Lyon
was making a similar syringe which quickly came into use in many
surgeries under the name of 'The Pravaz Syringe'.
"Charles Gabriel Pravaz (1791-1853), French surgeon, and Alexander
Wood (1817-1884), Scottish physician, independently invented the
hypodermic syringe. It is first used to inject morphine as a painkiller."
Vaccination Syringes
Benjamin A. Rubin invented the "Pronged Vaccinating and Testing
Needle" or vaccination needle. This was a refinement to the
conventional syringe needle.
Disposable Syringes
Arthur E. Smith received 8 U.S. patents for a disposable syringe
from 1949-50. (U.S. Patent nos. 2524363, 2524362, 2497562, 2490553,
2490552, 2490551, 2478845, 2478844)
In 1954, Becton, Dickinson and Company created the first mass-produced
disposable syringe and needle, produced in glass. It was developed
for Dr. Jonas Salk's mass administration of one million American
children with the new Salk polio vaccine.
In 1955, Roehr Products introduced a plastic disposable hypodermic
syringe called the Monoject.
In 1956, Colin Murdoch, a pharmacist from Timaru, New Zealand patented
a plastic, disposable syringe to replace the glass syringe. Colin
Murdoch has patented forty-six inventions including: a silent burglar
alarm, automatic syringes for vaccinating animals, the childproof
bottle top, and the tranquilizer gun which he invented in 1959.
Colin Murdoch - Biography
In 1961, Becton Dickinson introduced its first plastic disposable
syringe called the Plastipak.
African American inventor Phil Brooks received a US patent for
a "Disposable Syringe" on April 9, 1974.
Microneedle
The microneedle device is a painless alternative to the needle and
syringe. Mark Prausnitz, a chemical engineering professor from the
Georgia Institute of Technology teamed together with electrical
engineer Mark Allen to develop the prototype microneedle device,
which looks like the nicotine quit smoking patch. The microneedle
is made up of 400 silicon-based microscopic needles, each the width
of a human hair. The tiny, hollow needles are so small, that any
medication can be delivered through the skin without reaching the
nerve cells that create pain. Microelectronics within the device
would control the time and dosage of the medicine delivered.
Hypospray
PowderJect Pharmaceuticals of Fremont, Calif., created the hypospray
a device that uses pressurized helium to spray dry powdered medicines
on the skin for absorption.
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