B-D Pocket Manometer

WLMD ID: arcm

The patient's blood pressure is one of the vital signs monitored by anesthesiologists throughout the surgery. The first mercury-tube sphygmomanometer was introduced in the 1890s. When using these devices the anesthesiologist wrapped a cloth-covered rubber cuff around the patient’s arm. The physician next held the patient's wrist to feel the pulse in the radial artery and pumped a rubber bulb to inflate the cuff until the radial pulse could not be felt. Pressure in the cuff was measured by the height of the mercury in the sphygmomanometer’s vertical glass tube. Then the physician would slowly deflate the cuff while watching the level of the mercury to note at which line the radial pulse could again be felt; this indicated the systolic pressure.

Becton, Dickinson & Co. (B-D) was founded in New York in 1897.  Best known for manufacturing needles and syringes, B-D added a line of monitoring equipment when it merged with Physicians Specialty Company in 1921. Soon afterward B-D's products included a sphygmomanometer in three styles:  wall-mounted, desktop (built into a wooden case) and a freestanding model that came with a leather carrying case or "pocket". The pocket model was also sold by The Foregger Company as an accessory for its anesthesia machines. Mercury tube sphygmomanometers were outmoded by new aneroid instruments in the 1970s.

Catalog Record: B-D Pocket Manometer Contact [email protected] for catalog record.