Reprinted Jrom the New York Medical Journal 
for November 11, 1893. 
A NEW PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR STERILIZING 
EYE INSTRUMENTS BY BOILING IN WATER. 
AN ALUMINIUM SHIELD FOR PROTECTING THE 
EYE AFTER CATARACT EXTRACTION. 
By JOSEPH A. ANDREWS, M. D„ 
OPHTHALMIC SURGEON TO CHARITY HOSPITAL, NEW YORK. 
The apparatus figured here is intended to serve a useful 
purpose in sterilizing eye instruments by boiling in water, es- 
pecially when important operations are done at the homes of 
patients. The apparatus occupies so little space that it can 
readily be carried in a small satchel, and is at all times ready 
for use. 
Fig. A represents a ground plan of the entire apparatus. 1 
is the outer box for containing the boiler (2) and tray (3), the 
latter with a rack and perforated bottom, for receiving the in- 
struments. The boiler (2) has its own cover; it is intended for 
the instruments only. It is therefore quite distinct from the 
other things in the outer case—i. e., lamp, bottles, etc.—the 
outer case being merely intended to keep everything together. 
Fig. B represents the entire apparatus inclosed in its case. 
Fig. 0 shows the tray in the boilei, in place over the lamp, 
ready for use. 
Fig. D shows the bottle used for solutions of cocaine, atro- 
pine, and one-per-cent, chloride of sodium. The latter solu- 
Copyright, 1893, by D. Appleton and Company. NEW APPARATUS. 
Fig. A 
FlG.B 
Fig.C 
Fig. D. — 1, Hollow ground stopper drawn out into a tube which 
terminates in a smooth curved point at 2. The rubber nip- 
ple, 3, serves to draw up and inject the fluid contained in 
the bottle. The ground stopper, 4, closes the hollow stop- 
per, 1, and prevents the fluid in the bottle from becoming 
contaminated by contact with the rubber nipple, 3, when 
the bottle is transported. The collar. 5, protects the mouth of the bottle from 
collections of dust, etc. 
Fig.D NEW APPARATUS. 
tion is, when boiled, intended for washing out the conjunctival 
cul-de-sac, thus mechanically cleansing the surface of the mu- 
cous membrane. 
The solutions are boiled in these bottles; the bottles must, 
therefore, be blown, not cast in a mold. The bottle is fash- 
ioned on a small scale after the one devised by myself for 
syringing out cortical matter after cataract extraction (see 
Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society, 1892, 
p. 455). 
Dimensions.—Tray for instruments, five inches wide, six 
inches long. The rack for the instruments is detachable. The 
case containing boiler, lamp, etc., is eight inches long, five 
inches wide, and an inch and five sixteenths deep. 
In preparing instruments for an operation, boiling water is 
poured directly from the kettle into the boiler, and the instru- 
ments (except the cataract 
knife and keratome, which 
are simply dipped several 
times in the boiling water 
and repeatedly firmly wiped 
with absorbent cotton) are 
boiled for three minutes. 
The tray containing the in- 
struments is then lifted out 
of the water, the latter at 
the same time running back 
into the boiler through the 
perforated bottom in the 
tray. The tray, covered, is 
laid on a clean towel on the 
table, and in a few seconds 
the instruments are cool and 
ready for use. 
The shield, represented 
in Fig. E, is designed to pro- 
tect the eye against injury after cataract extraction, etc. Being 
made of thin sheet aluminium, it is very light, and readily 
bent, if necessary, to adapt it to the shape of the head. 
Fio. E. NEW APPARATUS. 
The gauze or flannel bandage having been applied, the shield 
is held in place over this by means of a tape which passes 
through the apertures in its upper part, no sewing being neces- 
sary for this purpose. 
The apparatus is manufactured by Messrs. Bramhall, Deane, 
& Co., 264 Water Street, New York, and E. C. Meyrowitz, 
West Twenty-third Street, who also manufacture the shield. 
!) West Twenty-second Street.