Another Thrift Store mystery item. Brass with bakalite-y handle
Inscribed in small olde serif-y font is the likely manufacturer - ? hernstein
My 90 minutes of googling only turned up one possible manufacturer H. hernstein medical instruments ..
Cutting instruments were made of steel then, not a copper alloy - too dull.
It could well be Hernstein, but maybe for use in the Pharmacy? Like for handling pills on tabletop.
Joe Gwinn
Early specula, perhaps?
It's a device used to provide perspective so we can tell how big the pen is.
As medical gadgets go, it looks like a retractor. It may not have been used in surgery in later days because of the handle. All surgical instruments need to be sterilized, usually autoclaved, and the handle wouldn't survive high heat. There is a wide variety of retractors in the medical field.... and veterinarian field, also. That "retractor" likely is Civil War era, if its a retractor.
This link may be the best, showing some instruments with handles. During the Civil War probably not much autoclaving in the field.
Generally, an assistant would use the retractor to hold tissue out of the way, while the Doc worked deeper into the wound.
Surgical retractor?
Retractor or speculum methinks. Sonny posted a link that showed the company name on a different surgical impliment .. I found a link with veterinary impliments where one looked pretty similar :
Could be any of the above. Wiki links to a lot of different retractors. Some look quite like this. Most veterinary tools are the same as people-doctor tools. Drugs are the same, too. By brother was a vet and made the point that specialized tools and meds couldn't be justified for animals. BTW, his bone saw was from Ace hardware. Same thing.
Shoe horn !
snipped-for-privacy@ccanoemail.com wrote:
Shoe horn
The blade is flat. The company seems to be a medical instrument maker .. John T.
Ok, this one is made for people with flat feet. ;!)
12 iron for the vertically challenged?
French horn?
"turn your head and cough."
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