Medical sterile Water bottles

[doyler]

Found these in a small shop on sunday.Not sure they are military but the one has the key on the bottom and the OD paint gives it a military look and feel.Made by the SHARPE AND DOANE COMPANY.One is still complete with its rubber stopper.There are lot numbers on the lables as well.

Any opinions are welcome.

 

[doyler]

[doyler]

Container

 

[doyler]

[jgawne]

These are 'possibly' military in nature, but I am not sure there is a way to tell unless there is an actual date.

 

This one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in medicine in wartime- the development of dried plasma. A man loses enough blood he goes into shock and eventually dies from lack of blood. You can giver him Whole blood, but that needs to be refrigerated, and had a shelf life. However, plasma could be freeze dried, and reconstituted as needed.

 

So this is the sterile water that was used to reconstitute the plasma into liquid form, and transfuse it back into a patient. Of course, you could only give am an so much plasma, as with the whole blood cells his body would lose ability to carry oxygen to the cells, but this bulked up his blood supply and kept many men from dying.

 

I am sure one of the medical collectors here will chime in on the style of the bottle and case.

[doyler]

Thanks John.

I was thinking "possible" military connection as the dried plasma part would be of more a military value for storage and transportation.As you ststed whole blood needs refrigeration and isnt well suited for long term storage.Had a buddy who is a long time bottle collecctor look at them and his opion on the bottles are from the era or from possibly WW1-WW2 time frame.Be a fun thing to research and if nothing else add to the pile.

 

I need to go to Bens site and do some looking.

[doyler]

Bens site had an intresting topic on plasma.Similiar containers are see.They appear bright in color and wonder later if the were painted.

 

http://www.med-dept.com/plasma.php

[king802]

These are the late war variety and are indeed WW2 issue. These were the larger versions that replaced the early plasma and distilled water that came in the gold coloured cans.

Sharp & Dhome were some of the earliest suppliers of Plasma.

 

These are becoming quite sort after, although easier to find than the early war ones they are becoming harder to obtain. I picked up a mint one recently. It looks like the rubber IV tubing is missing but otherwise a good set.

 

Rich

[doyler]

Thanks Rich
After reading the topic on the site I wondered if they were indeed later.I see the one listed there are 400cc capacity and these are 600cc.

I was curious if the increased size was due to a need for more fluid or if these larger bottles were more for aid stations,field hospitals etc.
Thanks again for the reply
RD

[Nine O Nine]

From what I've managed to find during my research it was decided that the 400cc smaller capacity sets were deemed too small very early on in the war and these larger sets were produced from mid 1943 onwards to produce more plasma for casualties. But took a while to arrive overseas. The change of can colour was at request of front line medics particularly in the Pacific to make them less conspicuous when administering plasma.

 

The cans you have I believe are later war examples because of the term "water for injection" I have a complete set and individual 600cc bottles in my collection and they still carry the term distilled water like the early smaller cans. I will try and post some pictures tomorrow.

 

I can't remember the exact date (or find the source at the moment) but I believe the last blood plasma donor was September 1945 and sets like this were not used in Korea due to the introduction of serum Albumin so all sets like this will date before September 45.

 

Tom.

[jgawne]

Every so often you will find an unused one. But it am pretty sure they used the exact same items for the civilian market both during and after the war. Especially in places where it was hard to keep a stock of refrigerated whole blood on hand all the time- like small towns.

[doyler]

John, I agree with you 100 percent. I am glad you brought this up as well. How many times have we seen old stock of civil defense items from the late 40's early 50's and into the 70 S that still had World War 2 items stocked in them. A friend of mine several years ago ran into a horde of World War 2 C rations and K rations stored at a Boy Scout camp for just this purpose along with various world war ii-era medical supplies.

 

A year ago I purchased 2 USN MK1 KNIVES from a Civil Defense locker auction in a small town in Minnesota.

[jgawne]

The rations didn't happen to be in Washington or Oregon area by any means? I heard of a big find years ago up there.

[doyler]

The rations didn't happen to be in Washington or Oregon area by any means? I heard of a big find years ago up there.

 

 

As I recall it was Montanna.