Health Sciences · Hospital for Sick Children
A wooden case, latched at the lower edges of opposite sides, with a carrying handle on its top surface, contains an apparatus consisting primarily of a metal pump with a quart-sized glass jar at either side. The apparatus is built onto a wooden platform that forms the base of the case.
Components are/ were connected by burgundy-coloured tubing that has deteriorated significantly with age. A black electrical cord is attached to the pump. The coating on the cord has also deteriorated.
An unattached metal ether mouth hook likely belongs to this instrument.
Accession Number: 2025.sk.78
Alternative Name: McKesson T. & A. Pump, No. 520
Primary Materials: Metal, Glass, Wood.
Markings:
Dimensions (cm): Height = 28, Width = 33, Length = 19.5.
The McKesson T. & A. Pump is a portable electrical machine adapted for nose and throat surgery, especially Tonsillectomy. The machine has two primary functions: pumping ether to administer anaesthesia and removing fluids during surgery.
The ether pumping function uses air pressure to bubble air through a quantity of liquid ether in a quart-sized glass vessel in order to deliver ether vapour into the mouth via a mouth hook. It incorporates a blow off valve to maintain a constant pressure.
The suction function draws fluids from a metal suction end into a similar quart-sized glass vessel.
The pumping unit can be removed for sterilization in hot oil.
This artifact is largely intact, with major components in place. It is deteriorated with age. Most notably, tubing has become brittle and has broken in several places. The coating on the electrical cord is also deteriorated, brittle and damaged. Particles from these deteriorated elements have accumulated on the instrument. Most metal components have areas of oxidation.
Associated Instruments:
Toledo Technical Supply Company. Toledo, Ohio.
Date of Manufacture: c. 1920s
Provenance:
F. H. McMechan and L. McMechan (1989). “Fifty-Two Years Ago in: Anesthesia & Analesia. Elmer Isaac McKesson, MD, anesthetist: his life and work. 1937.” Anesthesia & Analgesia 69(2): 259.
Toledo Technical Supply Company (1928) “The McKesson T. & A. Pump, No. 520.” Hospital Topics 6(6): 388.
Elmer Isaac McKeeson (1881-1935) received his medical doctorate in 1906. He founded the Toledo Technical Appliance Company in 1910 to develop and manufacture anesthesia equipment. Around 1930, the company was renamed as The McKesson Appliance Company.