Adhesive Bandage Grouping, WWII? Korea? Vietnam?

[Gary Ziegler]

I have a group of adhesive bandages that were acquired with several WWII and Korean era First Aid Kits and medical supplies. I would like to know which adhesive bandages are WWII era, which are Korean War era and which, if any, are neither. See attached photo, which I've flipped to make it easier to read them all without twisting your head. Manufacturer's include:

A.E. Halperin Company, Inc.
American White Cross Laboratories
Bauer & Black
Davis Emergency Equipment Company
Hampton Mfg. Co.
Forest City Products, Inc.
Johnson & Johnson

Madison Company
Medical Supply Company
Mine Safety Appliances,
Parke Davis & Company
The Pac-Kit Company, Seamless Rubber
Thomas W. Reed Company   

Your assistance in this is greatly appreciated.

[Survival]

As far as I know the military did not use 3/4" wide bandaids until after WW2.

 

The only 3/4" wide bandaid that I would say could be military would be the white cross brand.  I believe all the rest are commercial.

 

As far as the 1" bandaids go the only ones I have seen in WW2 military kits are the Davis, Bays, and Stickbands.

 

Halco, and MSA are probably WW2 era.  Not sure if I have seen them in military kits.

 

Pac kit, Stafford labs, MS Co I believe are commercial

 

The 1" J&J  ZO is Korean War era and  was used in military kits.  The WW2 version is a little different

[Gary Ziegler]

According to the WWII US Medical Research Centre, the following companies are listed as WW2 Medical Equipment Manufacturers and Suppliers. They are listed under Surgical Dressings and Supplies. These companies include:
 

A. E. Halperin Company, Inc. – Boston, Massachusetts
The American White Cross Laboratories, Inc. – New Rochelle, New York – Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Bauer & Black, Division of The Kendall Company – Chicago, Illinois
Davis Emergency Equipment Company, Inc. – Newark, New Jersey
Hampton Manufacturing Company – Carlstadt, New Jersey
Johnson & Johnson – New Brunswick, New Jersey – Chicago, Illinois

Medical Supply Company – Rockford, Illinois
Mine Safety Appliances Company– Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Bay Division, Parke Davis & Company – Bridgeport, Connecticut
The Pac-Kit Company – Greenwich, Connecticut

The Seamless Rubber Company – New Haven, Connecticut

The following 3 companies are not listed as suppliers:

Forest City Products, Inc.

Madison Company

Thomas W. Reed Company  

Source: https://www.med-dept.com/resources/ww2-medical-equipment-manufacturers-and-suppliers/

[Survival]

There were many other manufacturers of adhesive compresses (bandaids) used in WW2 by the military.  I'm just referencing the examples in your photo.   If you are trying to assemble a WW2 first aid kit as it came originally from the manufacturer the bandaids are usually the hardest item to get right.  Obviously the bandaids were the most often used item so they were the most likely to be replaced in the kit.

[Gary Ziegler]

9 hours ago, Survival said:

If you are trying to assemble a WW2 first aid kit as it came originally from the manufacturer the bandaids are usually the hardest item to get right.  Obviously the bandaids were the most often used item so they were the most likely to be replaced in the kit.

I have several M-2 Jungle, Medical, Individual kits dated 1943 to 1945. I would like to know which items are correct for these kits when they originally came from the manufacturer. If items that were used and replaced over time, which ones would be correct as replacements. This is one of the kits I have on hand. 

 

[Survival]

Technically the Fraziers, Iodine and Atabrine would have five digit stock numbers or no stock numbers for a 1943 kit.   I believe they went to 7 digits in mid 1944.   I think its OK otherwise.   

[Gary Ziegler]

22 hours ago, Survival said:

Technically the Fraziers, Iodine and Atabrine would have five digit stock numbers or no stock numbers for a 1943 kit.   I believe they went to 7 digits in mid 1944.   I think its OK otherwise.   

Thank you, sir. You are correct. I have two WWII era iodine vials, One has the 5 digit stock number 91118 and one has the 7 digit stock number 9111800 (see photo). According the WWII Medical Research Centre, the 7 digit stock numbers initially appeared in the Army Service Forces Medical Supply Catalog on 1 March 1944. The site states:

Medical Item Numbering System:

While the United States Army preferred to indicate itemized parts by Stock Number, the Medical Department used Item Numbers. The following series of digits represent the numbering system in use during WW2. During the early phase of WW2, most Item Numbers only had 5 digits. Early 1944 the number of digits increased from 5 to 7. The first digit always indicated the class to which the part belonged, while the other four (i.e. 0001 to 9999) indicated the purchase order within a specific class. The new Army Service Forces Medical Supply Catalog dated 1 March 1944, officially lists the increased series of digits, i.e. 7 instead of only 5; the additional two digits were attributed in order to help identify variants among identical medical items, and the very last two digits were used for this specific purpose (i.e. 00 to 99); when a particular item had no variants, both last digits were always double zero (00).

The Medical Supply Catalog, dated 1 March 1944, lists contents with 7-digit Item Numbers. Since this Catalog superseded former publications introduced 1 June 1943, it would imply that the existing system (5-digits) was gradually modified into a 7-digit numbering system over this period, i.e. between mid 1943 and early 1944, give or take a few months  …

Source: https://www.med-dept.com/articles/background-to-medical-item-numbers/