Invention Of Rubber Gloves

Love had more to do with it than hygiene.

Invention of rubber gloves.

In 1894 william stewart halsted the first chief of surgery at johns hopkins hospital invented rubber gloves for his wife as he noticed her hands were affected on the daily surgeries she had performed and in order to prevent medical staff from developing dermatitis from surgical chemicals. Surgical rubber gloves were introduced 100 years ago at baltimore s johns hopkins hospital but not for the reasons one might think. Halsted was the first surgeon in chief and first professor of surgery at the johns hopkins hospital within the university of the same name in baltimore. Not to protect the patient from infection but to protect the surgeon from the disinfectant.

Rubber gloves were used by pathologists and anatomists to conduct dissections in the early 1840 s. Ramped up its funding for surgical glove research in 1941. In 1965 ansell developed the first disposable medical gloves. In 1894 william stewart halsted pioneered the widespread use of rubber gloves during surgery.

These gloves were hefty and thick and allowed for poor dexterity. Latex gloves have been in manufacture for over one hundred and twenty years. In the fourth installment of our moments of vision series jessica oreck shares the surprisingly romantic origin of rubber gloves. The first recorded use of latex gloves was in 1883 by william stewart halsted at johns hopkins hospital in baltimore maryland united states.

And a surgeon again in boston called dr. The ansell rubber co. Their inventor was a. He is often called the father of american surgery and the father of surgical rubber gloves.

They wore them to protect themselves from infections. The manufacturer sterilized the gloves using gamma irradiation. So they d put their gloves on and instead of red raw dermatitis their hands would be alright. This manufacture was done largely in malaysia alone as this was the primary source of the rubber tree.

William halstead introduced rubber gloves in 1889 1890. To protect his nurse s hands he asked the goodyear tire and rubber company if they could make a rubber glove that could cope with being dipped in carbolic acid. It s hard to imagine a modern hospital being able to function without rubber gloves but they weren t actually invented until 1890.