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WWII DRISET NORMAL HUMAN PLASMA BOX


BEAST
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This is a box in which my Dad brought home some of his souvenirs and misc. paperwork. He served as a medic with the 94th Infantry Division. I could not find any info on the web about DRISET. If any of you have information, please feel free to share.

 

Maybe you folks who collect medical have seen these before, but this is the only one of these that I have ran across. I found this box and the stuff inside in our attic many years ago when I was in kindergarten. Odds are pretty good that the pencil scribbles on top are mine! :rolleyes:

 

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Hi Erik,

 

I have never seen a set like this with the indication of 'DRISET' as this one, but I surmise that it is perhaps a trade name for the dessicated plasma. I actually wrote a short Article relating to the use of plasma, and in particular, dried plasma for my website. Here's the link: http://www.med-dept.com/plasma.php .

 

Here's an excerpt which relates to the dried plasma package that you have illustrated above:

 

The resultant Standard Army-Navy Package (Item # 1608900) consisted of the following:

 

1. A 400-cc. bottle containing the dried solids obtained from 300 cc. of citrated plasma, evacuated and sealed under 29 inches (73.6 cm.) of vacuum. The solid content contained between 17.5 and 18 gm. of plasma protein. An earlier proposal (1) that the labels on plasma containers should specify the amount of the original plasma from which the dried plasma had been prepared would have required individual determinations of total protein and was rejected as completely impractical.

2. A 400-cc. bottle, with a similar stopper but sealed without a vacuum, containing 300 cc. of sterile, pyrogen-free distilled water.

3. Equipment for intravenous administration, consisting of:

1. An airway assembly, consisting of 9 inches of rubber tubing, with a needle on one end for insertion into the stopper and a cotton filter on the other end.

2. An intravenous injection set, consisting of 48 inches of rubber tubing with a glass cloth filter for use during the administration of the plasma. At one end of the tubing was a glass adapter fitted to an 18-gage intravenous needle. At the other end was a short 15-gage needle to be used to connect the intravenous set to the plasma bottle. This was Item # 9351520.

 

Once the distilled water had been mixed with the desiccated plasma, within 3 minutes the plasma was ready for administration and was healthy for use for a further 4/5 hours.

 

I hope that the above will be of some use to you, and nice item!

 

Thanks,

Ben

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Ben,

Thanks for the reply and information. The posting of your excellent collection got me motivated to post this box and start to do some research on it.

 

Although it is a description of the larger plasma package here is a photo comparison of the two boxes. This comes from:

 

http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/ww...od/chapter7.htm

 

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FIGURE 42.—Large plasma package introduced in 1943. A. Large and small packages of dried plasma. B. Box opened to show contents arid questionnaire. C. Contents removed from cans. D. Large and small cans of dried plasma, and can of serum albumin, to show comparative sizes. E. Large and small bottles of dried plasma and vial of serum albumin. Note texture of plasma after shell freezing and drying.

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Erick,

 

Thanks for your kind words about my collection again. I have sent you some more detail about the box via PM, as well as some images showing the contents of this 250cc version. As I said in the message, in case you should need any additional information, just let me know!

 

Thanks for sharing,

Ben

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Erick,

 

I just came across some additional information relating to the manufacturer of your kit (Reichel Laboratories) in one of my books. Here it is:

 

The first contract for dried plasma, for 15,000 packages, in February 1941, was made with Sharp & Dohme because of their previous experience in this field (19). By April (18), this firm had processed 1,140 units of 250 cc. each, with a loss of 126 units, 76 by breakage and the remainder for other reasons. By July (20), it had received 5,902 bloods, processed 5,496, and released 2,976 for distribution.

 

Before the declaration of war on 8 December 1941, three other contracts had been made. A small amount of plasma (750 packages) was available at Pearl Harbor, but the Navy, whose immediate needs were greater than those of other services, had received most of the other production.

 

Eventually, eight commercial firms were processing plasma, as follows (50):

 

Sharp & Dohme, beginning on 4 February 1941.

Eli Lilly and Co., beginning on 1 October 1941.

Lederle Laboratories (Division of American Cyanamid Co.), beginning on 14 October 1941.

Reichel Laboratories, Inc. (later Reichel Division of Wyeth, Inc.), beginning on 18 November 1941.

Ben Venue Laboratories, beginning on 10 January 1942.

Cutter Laboratories, beginning on 12 January 1942.

Hyland Laboratories, beginning on 13 May 1942.

Parke, Davis and Co., beginning on 29 June 1942.

 

By the way, as a matter of interest, in the photographs that you've posted, the lid is placed the wrong way around (the end which bears the Greek Red Cross emblem should match up with the end indicated "American Red Cross" as the final words.

 

I hope that the above is of some use,

Ben

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Erick,

 

I just came across some additional information relating to the manufacturer of your kit (Reichel Laboratories) in one of my books. Here it is:

By the way, as a matter of interest, in the photographs that you've posted, the lid is placed the wrong way around (the end which bears the Greek Red Cross emblem should match up with the end indicated "American Red Cross" as the final words.

 

I hope that the above is of some use,

Ben

 

Thanks Ben! You are right about the box lid being on backwards, I noticed after I posted the photos. Do you know when Reichel was bought out by Wyeth? It might make it possible to narrow down when the box was packaged.

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