Object Details
- Description
- Armed with an Atropen Auto-Injector, a person could carry a preselected amount of medication and self-inject when necessary. The form was devised by Stanley J. Sarnoff (1918-1990), a cardiologist, and David M. Potter (1905-1984), a design engineer. Their basic patent described “a hypodermic syringe having a retractile needle which can spring with substantial speed and force from a sheathed to an unsheathed position simultaneously ejecting fluid throughout.” The Atropen was produced by Rodana Research Corp. in Bethesda, Md., a firm that Sarnoff established in 1958. Rodana became Survival Technology in 1966.
- Ref: “Sarnoff Perfects New Injector of Antidote for ‘Nerve Gas’,” The Harvard Crimson (Dec. 2, 1953).
- Stanley J. Sarnoff and David M. Potter, “Hypodermic Injector,” U.S. Patent 2,832,339 (April 29, 1958).
- “Survival Tech Gets a Shot in the Arm,” Washington Post (July 25, 1983), pp. 1 and 32.
- “Stanley J. Sarnoff, 72, Cardiologist and Inventor,” New York Times (May 25, 1990), p. D18.
- “David M. Potter 3d; Aeronautical Expert Invented Flow Meter,” New York Times (Oct. 11, 1984), p. D26.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- date made
- on or before 1967
- Credit Line
- Gift of Dr. Alfred R. Henderson, M.D.
- Physical Description
- atropine, 2 mg (drug active ingredients)
- plastic (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1 in x 5 5/8 in x 1/2 in; 2.54 cm x 14.2875 cm x 1.27 cm
- overall: 3 3/4 in x 1/2 in; x 9.525 cm x 1.27 cm
- Object Name
- auto-injector
- syringe
