Devilbiss
Fortunately, 130 years ago, there was one simple country doctor and Civil War veteran who decided he wasn’t satisfied with the rudimentary med- instruments of the 1800s.
He wasn’t satisfied with the status quo. When care of his patients was hampered because of the lack of all but the crudest of medical instruments, he wasn’t about to give up.
In order to help his patients breathe more freely, Dr. Allen DeVilbiss tried harder, worked smarter and became an innovator – dedicated to the quality of design and its impact on the quality of life.
Dr. DeVilbiss would tinker around in his backyard woodshed until just the right tool was perfected. And over a century ago, he developed the first spray atomizer by combining a rubber bulb, a piece of metal tubing cut from a discarded surgical instrument, and the base from an oil can. He was looking for an alternative to swabbing goose grease and Vaseline on the throats and in the nasal passages of cold sufferers. He held the atomizer over a flame to melt the semisolid which he then sprayed in mist form directly on the affected areas.
Dr. DeVilbiss took his invention to several leading medical supply manufacturing companies, but none were interested. In 1888, he founded DeVilbiss Manufacturing for the sole purpose of producing this atomizer. Since that time, DeVilbiss has led the way in developing products that make breathing easier for millions of people.