Opening An Anaesthesia Time Capsule

We recently received a box from the United States which had been purchased without much knowledge of what the contents were. All that we knew was that there was at least one piece of vintage medical equipment included which gave us enough interest to bid on the online auction. After winning, we waited - and waited, then finally got to open the box a couple of days ago.

The first thing that struck us was the weight, almost 14kg of surprises. Then we got to the first box - sticky, chemical smelling, and full of fluid. How did a bottle of fluid make it through customs on a plane from the US? More-so, how did an unopened, leaking bottle of Xylene (a highly volatile, flammable fluid) packed in 1963, make it to Australia on a plane from the US? Box after box appeared unleashing an amazing array of unopened surprises. Enamel medical trays, enema jugs, pipettes, swabs, blankets, masks and some incredible anaesthesia dispensing units were included. The most exciting thing was the fact that most of these objects would not have been touched or seen the light of day since the early 1950's. To be the first person to open these sealed boxes was really exciting and a true look at history appearing right in front of us.

We've built some medical themed lamps in the past and are always on the lookout for other parts that might work. There's at least two lamps that can be produced from this delivery, which we hope to be able to show in the near future. Here's a look at a couple of similar themed items that we've built in the past.

Vintage Sklar Medical Aspirator Pump Desklamp
Vintage Ether Anaesthesia Desklamp

We've included a parts list and an image gallery below which shows everything from the delivery. If you have any un wanted medical paraphernalia, feel free to contact us.