@gieorgijewski I feel you are misreading me. I do not doubt what you have said and shown. I am simply trying to understand what the use might have looked like. A date of 1917, or 1927, or 1937 makes a bit of a difference. The 1939-45 kits from other countries I have seen look to me intended for autoclave not boiling, but I have seen so little. I am trying to reduce my extreme ignorance! I wonder if the field kit with burner is older than the drawing, or the same age. I presume you have some idea. If it is the same age it might have a slightly different use, or the drawing might not have been exact. I don't pretend to know: I just noticed that it is different. In my mind a front-line medic with equipment they can sterilise makes sense, but it also means some compromises. For me this topic is something like the British stovies thinking about the lack of shutoff valve with the Hurlock stove. The use environment might make a difference. I'm sorry if my "thinking aloud" is troubling.
I didn't think it was a sterilizer either, so this is also an education for me. I am surprised (and a bit horrified), but it would certainly be better than nothing. Thanks, @gieorgijewski for showing its use. ....Arch
continue compilation from Field sterilizer 1943 l British WW2 | pattern37.com from 60 ties italian all started in 1906 when metal glass syringe systems was constructed many sterilizer was parts for sets syringe wwi was time of changes in medic tasks on battle fields
I am still trying to locate some period information on these units. The search has located an 1888 autoclave from a museum in Sweden, and the following article on mobile surgical hospital which includes a helpful map and explanation of primus use from 1944. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09677720211012190 Still digging for info on the alcohol burners. But "surgical" will not really be correct: the alcohol burners would need to be for forward-deployed paramedics, or similar. If you have access to large tents and operating tables then you would have access to better sterilising equipment, and hotter stoves.
https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/uv/uv.html#?manifest=/iiif/nlm:nlmuid-54720950R-bk/manifest Pages 47 and 48 of the printed text (images 55 and 56 of the digital) explain pre-surgical procedures. The boiling seems to have been part of the pre-sterilisation cleaning for surgical instruments rather than the definitive step in this case. Lysol, scrubbing, boiling then autoclaving, with some items seeming to go direct from lysol and scrubbing to autoclave. For dressing instruments the instructions are for them to be boiled and no instruction is given for autoclave. So with this very limited information it appears to be that in WW2 American use these boiling sets were for dressing instruments or for one part in preparing surgical instruments. @gieorgijewski , the instruments in your set are for deeper work: I am guessing but it looks like bullet removal? Given the design, I assume the boiling was all that was done? This would then be different to the US instructions. I am interested to hear your information. On the other hand, the printed kit matches the styles used in autoclaves, including the large covering flaps in the instrument case. As I have previously said, I would be interested if you have dates for the kit and for the drawing. I would also be interested if you have information on the use of the kit. The retraction devices (for holding wounds open) are quite unusual but would fit with having a solo operator. The original image posted matches a number of identical items listed on sales sites, and has some features not expected (taller than the included tray, large alcohol store). Whether this is genuine seems to be an unanswered question. It would seem to be (or be a copy of) a steriliser. But in saying that it is most likely to have been intended to result in nearly sterile not completely sterile equipment. Or so I currently understand things. I may understand better tomorrow.
Noting my comment previously regarding forward deployment, my (limited) reading so far does not support the use of these items in forward deployment in American usage. Pre-sterilized items appear to have been issued to be carried. Presumably they were either discarded or returned for cleaning and re-sterilization. I have not yet found information on sterilization during forward deployment.
Scrambler Are you making your choice as recent requirements or the vintage requirements? I know sterilizer is a different term now from then. Called a sterilizer then is not the same as now. I still call it a sterilizer.
@snwcmpr I think it was the word "surgical" in the other thread that triggered me. Since the late 1800s there has been the ability and expectation that surgical sterilisation actually sterilises. Boiling kills many things, but not everything that can infect a wound. Pasteurisation (72 degrees C for 30s) will kill anything that is likely to infect the gut of a human. But 121 C (and therefore apx 2 atmospheres) of steam is required to kill everything. I can see boiling being used to clean and nearly sterilise an instrument but I cannot imagine that instrument being used deep in the human body, and if it was I cannot imagine the wound being closed over the potential contamination. But worse things have happened, and are happening today.
"RECORD" system ================================================= 1936 automatic translation NEW MODEL OF SYRINGE STERILIZER. EUGENJUSZ WAJGIEL. The following reasons prompted me to construct a separate sterilizer for syringes, which I briefly present below. In clinics and hospitals, syringes are usually sterilized either together with other tools or separately, but in the same sterilizers. In private practice, syringes are most often sterilized in metal boxes in which they are stored, or in ordinary kitchen utensils. The above methods of sterilizing syringes must raise concerns for many reasons. First of all, sterilization of syringes that are to be used for injections or punctures should be done in distilled water, which does not contain any salts, especially syringes should not be sterilized in water to which sodium carbonate is added, as is done quite rightly so, when sterilizing other surgical instruments. The presence of salts such as sodium carbonate, etc., which settle on the inner walls of the syringe during sterilization, may result in the formation of undesirable chemical bonds with the fluid drawn into the syringe. Such losses are, of course, not indifferent to the body, because while these connections are not directly harmful, at best they weaken the effect of the drug. It is already known, for example, that the presence of alkali neutralizes the effect of adrenaline. In addition to these most important reasons for sterilizing syringes in distilled water separately from other surgical instruments, there is also an economic consideration, i.e. proper maintenance of syringes. The syringes currently most commonly used, marked by manufacturers with the name "Record", as they have achieved a record in terms of quality over other syringes, are assembled from metal and glass. The manufacturers themselves make sure that the entire syringe is immersed in water during cooking, otherwise the part of the glass that is not covered with water during cooking will undergo changes. physical forces in the glass itself and the glass becomes less resistant to pressure at this point. When using a syringe boiled in this way, the liquid inside the syringe under the pressure of the piston, pressing against its wall, easily causes the glass to crack in the place that protruded above the water. The boxes sold so far, in which syringes are sterilized, are too shallow and the water covers the syringes in an insufficiently thick layer, and in addition, the water pours out when it boils, leaving the syringes uncovered with a layer of water. In order to eliminate the above-described disadvantages of the existing methods of sterilizing syringes, I constructed a sterilizer for sterilizing only syringes. In this sterilizer, syringes of various sizes are completely immersed in water during cooking, and the needles are sterilized along with them. The design of the sterilizer is very simple, as can be seen in the attached drawing, sterilization is not difficult even for unskilled workers, who usually forget about the correct way to sterilize syringes. This sterilizer has walls so high that commonly used medical syringes (even the largest ones, i.e. with a capacity of 20 cm) are sterilized in a standing position, and water can cover them to a height of several cm. To enable the vertical position of the syringes, a separate pedestal with holes for different calibers of syringes is placed into which the medical syringes are placed before sterilization. The pedestal also has small holes for syringe needles and separate holders for the longest needles in use. Using this pedestal, after boiling, the syringes and needles are removed, covered with a sterile cloth, and after cooling, they are ready for use. ===================================== Do We Need moore discussion? We can talk about regimental level medic's care - in fields btw steam or water bath? but not autoclave because that is waterbath Coleman 527 Military Medical Stove Complete and Unused size and weight determine autoclav use
@gieorgijewski The following adds to your information rather than contradicts. This is regarding US WW2 medical equipment. https://www.med-dept.com/articles/the-medical-chest/ Chest 1 (issued for the forward aid post) includes a gasoline unpressured steriliser, which appears to be for backup if on-site sterilisation was required. I say this because it was packed with a stomach tube and a stethoscope inside it. Chest 5 was an autoclave, replaced later in WW2 with an autoclave "sterilizer" which burned leaded gasoline and had 4x 10,000 BTU heads heating it. I haven't found a picture on google, but the service manual for all US Army WW2 sterilisers is here: TM 8-622 Field Sterilizing Equipment Items 4011028, 7910005, 9950000, 9952300, 9953000, 9954028 9953528, 1944 : United States. War Department : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
I found 2 references so far one with an eye witness lol and it seems to be a field sterilizer, Original German WWII Field Medic Surgical Instrument Sterilization Kit by AESCULAP Medical field sterilizer kit used by a German Jewish refugee nurse and postwar aid worker - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum I'd just like to thank everyone for the info and help with this it's been very interesting, Thanks.
