Description:
Petit-type tourniquet with a brass screw device with two buckles on a turned central column with the handle stamped "JOHN WHYTE." The detached compression pad is made of a brass buckle, which is stamped "FERRIS & Co / BRISTOL," with three sharpened studs protruding on each side and a leather covered (wooden?) convex pad attached by means of threads to the center. These tourniquets were used to apply pressure to stop heavy bleeding, especially during amputations. John-Louis Petit (1674-1760), a Parisian surgeon, was the first of many to introduce improvements to the tourniquet; the practice in ligature of blood vessels rather than cauterization to prevent hemorrhage during amputations had been promoted by the French surgeon Ambroise Paré (1510-1590). In 1718, Petit attached a circular bandage to a screw and a leather pad to allow pressure to be focussed on a specific point. It had the advantage of not requiring an assistant to apply constant pressure to the bleeding and became the most commonly used tourniquet throughout the 1800s due to its simple but effective design. In 1864, tourniquets were first used for surgical procedures other than amputations; and in 1904, Harvey Cushing introduced the pneumatic tourniquet using compressed gas. John Whyte was a surgical instrument maker at 58 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, Ireland, in the mid 19th century. Ferris & Co, Bristol, was founded by Dr. Tilladam in 1770 as a pharmaceutical house. It received a royal warrants as chemists in the 1830s from King William IV, which was renewed in 1840 by Queen Victoria. Ferris & Co. were also distributors of surgical instruments stamped with the Ferris mark, and continued in business well into the 20th century.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+57.221.03 |
