Model of a hospital instrument steriliser, England, 1931-1940
This small-scale model represents a sterilizer or most likely an autoclave. An autoclave sterilizes instruments using heat and high pressure prior to their use in an operating theatre. This model shows the red and green valves on the front and the trays used to place instruments in the device. This model may have been used by travelling salesmen to show the products of Chas F Thackray Ltd, who made the full-size version. Thackray’s was a surgical and medical equipment maker from 1902 to 1990, based in Leeds and London. When the company was sold in 1990, Paul Thackray, a former director, established a charitable trust and set up the Thackray Museum in Leeds in 1997 to display his collection.
Object number:
A616471
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: autoclave
A machine used to sterilise instruments or materials with high pressure and heat or pressurised steam.
Glossary: model - representation
Use for a scaled representation of an object or structure, usually three-dimensional. The item is often idealised or modified to make it conceptually easier to understand.
Glossary: steriliser
An instrument used to make objects sterile by killing or eliminating agents such as fungi, bacteria and viruses.