Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Steam generator Lucas Championnière-type (1920 – 1940)

Medical instrument that was used to generate sprays containing a mixture of water steam and an active pharmaceutical drug or product. The spray produced would be inhaled by a patient, for the administration of the drug, or eventually used for disinfection purposes. The steam generator works with an alcohol lamp and should be dated to 1920 – 1940. The origin and maker of this instrument is unknown. Lucas Championnière (1843 - 1913) went to Scotland as a young medical student in 1868, to meet Joseph Lister. Lister originally invented these types of sprayers to disinfect the surgeries before invasive medical interventions, using carbolic acid as a disinfectant (Figure 2), but it was Lucas Championnière who further developed the device.

Figure 1. Steam generators as engraved in the catalogues of several firms: (A, B) Gentile, Paris (1905, 1923 and 1931); (C) Duffaud & Cie (1934); (D) de la Croix (1925); (E, F) Simal (1931); (G) Lépine (1899).

Figure 2. Illustration of the use of carbolic acid spraying to disinfect surgeries before and during invasive medical interventions, as featured in the 1882 book “Antiseptic surgery: its principles, practices and results” by William Watson Cheyne.