logologo-optometry

Schiotz tonometer (Improved)

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Catalogue Number: 2890
Schiotz tonometer (Improved)
Category: Equipment
Sub-Category: Tonometer
Designer/inventor: SCHIOTZ, Hjalmar August
Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1964
Time Period: 1940 to 1999
Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Germany
Publisher/Manufacturer: Riester
Description Of Item: Schiotz tonometer in a red leatherette covered case, 160 x 80 x 23 mm, lined with red velvet, with a hinged lid, identified on the top of the lid in gold embossed lettering 'SCHIOETZ - TONOMETER / IMPROVED '. The lining of the inside of the lid is on stiff card that can be pulled out by a red tab, behind which are (1) a certificate of accuracy on pale yellow folded card ink stamped with the date '7 FEB 1964' with instructions for use in German and English on the back and, (2) a calibration table on folded cream paper translating the tonometer scale readings to intra-ocular pressure in mmHg for each of 4 weights. The instrument has a rounded tilted scale and a red tipped pointed to make scale reading easier.
Historical Significance: This tonometer was invented by Hjalmar August Schi?tz in 1905 and was the standard tonometer for over 50 years, until it was superseded by the applanation tonometer devised by Hans Goldmann (1899-1991) in 1954. Schiotz (1850-1927) was born in Stavanger, Norway. He graduated in Medicine in 1877 in Khristiania. He studied ophthalmology in Vienna, where he became a friend of Ernst Fuchs (1851-1930), and in Paris, where he was employed as "directeur adjoint" in the ophthalmologic laboratory at the Sorbonne under Louis ?mile Javal. They developed the ophthalmometer named for them in 1880. In 1881 he became an assistant at the surgical department of the Rikshospitalet in Kristiania and he established a private practice as an eye specialist. He distinguished himself in his work to introduce asepsis in Norway. He was appointed professor of medicine with the obligation to teach eye medicine in 1901. Schi?tz demonstrated his tonometer in The Norwegian Medical Society (Det norske medicinske Selskab) in 1905 and for the next half century the Schi?tz tonometer was generally accepted as a reliable means of measuring intraocular pressure. H. A. Schi?tz: Et nyt tonometer, tonometri. Norsk Magazin for L?gevidenskaben, Kristiania, 1905, 5th series, volume 3: 597-622. H. A. Schi?tz: Archiv fur Augenheilkunde, Wiesbaden,1905: 401-424. Riester was founded Rudolf Riester in 1948 and located in Jungingen. Germany. It has since been taken over by Halma PLC but continues make medical products including ophthalmic instruments. This instrument is very similar to the Winter made version of 1974 at Cat. No. 2888. Compare also with tonometers at Cat. Nos. 1337 and 2004
How Acquired: Donated by Estate of William Cooper, via Peter Lewis
Date Acquired: My 2016
Condition: Water stained on lid. Tonometer good
Location: Archive room. East wall Unit 3 Cupboard

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