McKesson 1653

Catalog Record: McKesson 1653 McKesson 1653

Access Key: aqsr

Accession No.: 2011-02-08-3

Title: McKesson model 1653 / McKesson Division of American Cryogenics.

Corporate Author: McKesson Division of American Cryogenics.

Title variation: Alt Title
Title: McKesson cabinet model.

Publisher: Toledo, Ohio : McKesson Division of American Cryogenics, Inc. ; [between ca. 1960 and ca. 1970].

Physical Description: 1 anesthesia machine : metals, plastics, rubber, glass ; 125 x 105 x 89 cm.

Subject: Anesthesia, Inhalation – instrumentation.
Subject: Anesthesia Machines.
Subject: Cyclopropane.
Subject: Ether, Ethyl.
Subject: Halothane.
Subject: Nitrous Oxide.
Subject: Oxygen.

Note Type: General
Notes: The range of possible dates of manufacture is based on the company’s product literature, which shows McKesson to have been a Division of American Cryogenics from 1962 through 1966.

The title is taken from the object. The alternate title is taken from the manufacturer’s product literature.

The machine is described with the flowmeters and controls facing forward.

After measurements were taken for the catalog record, the absorber was dismounted, emptied of soda lime, and stored in a box on the lower shelf of the machine.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: McKesson Company File. Archives. Located at: Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, Illinois.

Note Type: Physical Description
Notes: One anesthesia machine; The measurement of width given in the short description positions the absorber at a right angle; The width with the absorber turned to front is approximately XX; The measurement of depth given in the short description is that with the absorber to the front turned forward; The depth with the absorber turned to the left is approximately XX ; The machine has a blue cabinet; with an upper shelf, a stainless steel tabletop, one drawer below the tabletop, and a lower shelf; The four legs of the cabinet end in a horizontal extension (forming an “L”); These extensions hold the wheels;

A stainless steel vaporizer is mounted on each of the rear corners of the tabletop; That vaporizer on the left is marked, from top to bottom: “ETHER [new line] DO NOT FILL ABOVE THIS LINE [new line] 150, 100, 50”; That vaporizer on the right is marked, from top to bottom: “CAUTION [new line] FOR FLUOTHANE ONLY [new line] DO NOT FILL ABOVE THIS LINE [new line] 150, 100, 50”; A drain tap on the back of each vaporizer is fitted with a plastic (vinyl?) tube and plastic connector;

The flowmeters bank is mounted at the rear of the tabletop between the two vaporizers; It consists of six color-coded tubes with associated control knobs; From left to right, the tubes are marked “ETHER” (white’), “O2 cc/m” (green), “O2 l/m” (green), “N2O l/m” (blue), “C3H6 cc/m” (orange) and “FLUO cc/m” (black); The knobs for ether and Fluothane are square; The knobs for both oxygen and nitrous oxide are striated;

Near the front left corner of the tabletop there is an oxygen flush button marked “DIRECT OXYGEN”; Mounted in front of this is the bracket that holds the absorber assembly; The assembly holds an absorber and a pressure gauge; The absorber consists of two transparent plastic canisters; The rubber gaskets of both canisters are in very poor condition; The gauge is marked: “60, 40, 20, 0, 20, 40, 60 MILLIMETERS OF MERCURY”; Two metal tubes extend forward from the assembly; That tube on the left has been damaged by forcing a connector into it at an angle;

Below the tabletop, the front of the machine holds the following components, from left to right: an oxygen gauge, a switch marked from left to right: “ETHER OFF FLUOTHANE”, a nitrous oxide gauge and a cyclopropane gauge; All these gauges are marked “McKesson Appliance Co., Toledo, OH.”;

The left side of the machine holds two cylinder yokes marked “O2”; The right side of the machine holds three yokes, marked, from left to right: “C3H6”, “N2O” and “N2O”; A paper inspection label is pasted to the back of the flowmeter at the upper right; This label reads, in part: “AURANEL [new line] ANESTHESIA PRODUCTS, INC. [new line] 6 Fairview Ave. [new line] Port Washington, NY 11050”; The inspection date is written “9/15/82”; Below the flowmeter bank, the machine bears a label that reads: “McKESSON APPLIANCE CO. [new line] MODEL 1653 AV [new line] SER. NO. T-20 258”; Near the rear left corner of the machine, there is a label that reads, in part: “RUBBER PART NUMBERS. …. McKESSON APPLIANCE CO. [new line] DIV. AMERICAN CRYOGENICS, INC. [new line] 2228 ASHLAND AVE. [new line] TOLEDO, OHIO, U.S.A.”

Note Type: Reproduction
Notes: Photographed by Mr. Steve Donisch, January 17, 2018.

Note Type: Historical
Notes: Around 1910, Elmer I. McKesson, M.D. (1881-1935) founded the Toledo Technical Appliance Company to manufacture anesthesia equipment of his own design. In 1930, the firm’s name was changed to the McKesson Appliance Company. By 1962 the company had become a division of American Cryogenics, Inc. By 1975, McKesson had become a division of Narco Medical Co.

From the company’s inception, McKesson’s anesthesia machines were mounted on pole stands. Cabinet-style machines were introduced by McKesson’s competitor, Connell, in the 1930s. McKesson added them to its product line in 1956. The cataloged object was one of numerous models in McKesson’s 1600 series; each had several configurations available. The cataloger found product literature dating from 1962 through 1966 that describes cabinet machines equipped with a transparent, double-canister carbon dioxide absorber. See-through absorbers had been introduced by McKesson’s competitor, Foregger, in the 1940s. The adoption of this design by McKesson coincides with its acquisition by American Cryogenics. The cataloged machine could administer the liquid anesthetics ether and halothane, and the gases cyclopropane, nitrous oxide and oxygen. An inspection label on the back of the object indicates that it was still being used in 1982.

Note Type: Exhibition
Notes: Selected for the WLM website.