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 instrument is electric and should be dated to 1920 – 1940. The instrument is engraved with the firm’s name “GENTILE” and was probably manufactured, or at least retailed, by this company. An alcohol burner heated version of this device was described in the Gentile’s 1905, 1923 and 1931 catalogues as “Pulvérisateur à vapeur de Lucas-Championnière, moyen modele à deux hecs, fonctionnant deux heures” (panel B in the figure below), and the same 1931 catalogue also had the option of the electric powered model. Identical electrical models were found in museums and online auctions engraved with the names of other Parisian firms such as “Niédrée” and “Drapier et fils”. Many other companies produced and retailed similar instruments. 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.