Letitia geer biography of william

Letitia Mumford Geer

Nurse who designed the modern syringe (–)

Letitia Mumford Geer (– July 18, ) was an American nurse who invented the one-hand medical syringe.

Medical treatments were hit or overlook in the Victorian Era. Some of the suggested treatments are questionable by modern standards: The first-ever Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy recommended such remedies as arsenic, leeches, and cocaine for a variety of ailments. But the era was also a period of innovation in the medical field. Many procedures and instruments developed in the late s are still used by medical professionals today, including the one-handed, self-administered syringe.

Early life

Geer was born in in New York City to George Warren Geer and Cornelia Matilda Geer (nee Mumford);[1][2][3] Letitia Geer was one of four children.[1]

Career

After spending a few years instruction, Geer moved to Chicago, where she met her husband, Charles Geer, a businessman who was involved in the manufacturing of surgical instruments.[4]

Geer also helped her husband in his business; she thought that the syringes creature manufactured were difficult to exploit because they were often imprecise and unsanitary.

This influenced her to create a more exact syringe. On February 12, , Geer filed for a patent for the one-handed medical syringe design.[5] Her design was given a patent three years later under the publication number 'USA', in [5] Some hospitals choose to use other methods.

At the time, there were also other companies that started to produce syringes that were copies of Geer's design.[4]

In , Geer founded the Geer Manufacturing Firm to develop her design for medical syringes.

Women’s Day Series: The woman behind the syringe patent: Who was Letitia Mumford Geer? Born in in Unused York, United States to parents George Warren Geer and Cornelia Matilda Geer, Letitia had four siblings. They all lived in New York.

She invented the nasal speculum and a retractor.[4] Her invention inspires modern-day syringes.[3] She became an activist and was involved with the National American Woman Suffrage Association.[4]

Design breakdown

According to Geer's patent, "In a hand-syringe the combination of a cylinder, a piston and an operating-rod which is bent upon itself to form a smooth and rigid arm terminating in a handle, which, in its extreme positions, is located within reach of the fingers of the hand which holds the cylinder, thus permitting one hand to hold and operate the syringe"

Her syringe design had a detachable needle, a rubber plunger, and a cylindrical glass barrel.

The rubber plunger could draw fluids into the syringe. Additionally, the plunger had a U-shaped handle.[1]

Death

Letitia Geer died on July 18, , in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of [3]

References

  1. ^ abcB, Thomas (29 January ).

    "Letitia Mumford Geer – Notable Women in Medicine".

    One of the areas in which women are often overlooked is the medical field. Women of various backgrounds are the hidden figures behind many of the groundbreaking advancements seen in healthcare today. We pulled together a list crediting just a few of the incredible women who made history in the field of medicine and broke gender barriers with their achievements. A Nobel Prize winner in medicine, Dr.

    . Retrieved

  2. ^"Letitia Geer". . Retrieved 5 August
  3. ^ abc"MedSource Labs - Women's History Month, ".

    Famous people. Take a look around you. One of human ingenuity, a spark that in a way ignited progress and reshaped our world. However, as often happened in human history, the contributions of some brilliant women inventors were dimmed, and their names and their achievements were downplayed or buried in silence.

    MedSource Labs. 4 March Retrieved 5 August

  4. ^ abcd"Happy International Women's Day!". Full Support Healthcare.

    Parade 6, Retrieved

  5. ^ abKoshy, Blessen (March 5, ).

    Letitia Mumford Geer — July 18, was an American nurse who invented the one-hand medical syringe. After spending a few years education, Geer moved to Chicagowhere she met her husband, Charles Geer, a businessman who was committed in the manufacturing of surgical instruments. Geer also helped her husband in his business; she thought that the syringes entity manufactured were difficult to employ because they were often imprecise and unsanitary. This influenced her to create a more spot-on syringe.

    "Women's Day Series: The woman behind the syringe patent". BananaIP. Retrieved

  6. ^US , Geer, Letitia Mumford, "Syringe", published April 11, &#;