The DeVilbiss Corporation began in 1888 when Toledo, Ohio physician Dr. Allen DeVilbiss developed a spray atomizer to provide an easier way to apply medicines to patients' throats.
His invention was so successful that by 1890 he had retired from medical practice and established a company, DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company, to produce the atomizers in the old Lenk Winery on Toledo's north side.
(photo is 1910)
In 1888, Dr DeVilbiss was a country doctor serving patients in rural communities around Toledo, and the most common treatment for throat infections in those days was to swab the throat. Dr. Devilbiss developed a better method by assembling a hollow rubber ball, a metal jar and a small tube in his workshop. Filling the jar with medicine, a spray would pump out when the ball was squeezed. His spray tip was so unique he received a patent for the idea. Later, his son Thomas found other uses for the device, including perfume atomizers.
Founded in 2000, Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare has rapidly become a leading manufacturer of durable medical equipment with offices throughout the world. Over the past two decades, we have rapidly grown both organically and through acquisitions, including that of DeVilbiss Healthcare, a provider of respiratory products since 1888.
Dr Allen DeVilbiss M. D. was born in Licking county, Ohio, December 5, 1841. His father and mother moved to Spencerville, Indiana, in 1843. He secured his elementary education in the public schools of Auburn, DeKalb county, after which he studied a term at the University of Michigan.
Dr Allen DeVilbiss M. D. was born in Licking county, Ohio, December 5, 1841. His father and mother moved to Spencerville, Indiana, in 1843. He secured his elementary education in the public schools of Auburn, DeKalb county, after which he studied a term at the University of Michigan.
He had enlisted in the Civil War August 10, 1862, as a corporal in Company A, 100th Indiana Infantry; and took part in the memorable siege of Vicksburg and other engagements of less importance in Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. He received an honorable discharge from the service August 10, 1863, just a year after the date of enlistment
Then he entered the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, where he laid the foundation of his professional career, graduating with the class of '68 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dr.Clark of Middletown had befriended him and helped him through his medical courses at Cincinnati.
When he finished school he returned to Middletown and Doctor Clark fitted him out with a horse and saddlebag and gave him the Williamsport territory, across the river from Middletown. Here is where he married Miss Lydia A. Lipes, their niece Lydia also made a historical mark in medicine, in WW1, in children's health, std's, birth control, and blood transfusions re sickle cell anemia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Allen_DeVilbiss
He lectured as professor of anatomy in the Fort Wayne Medical School. While here he went to St. Louis and took special studies in nose and throat disease. In 1883 he moved into Fort Wayne in 1887 he moved with his family to Toledo to a larger field of opportunity.
At Toledo he made a specialty of diseases of the ear, nose and throat. He was one of Toledo’s first specialists in this line, and has done as much toward the perfection of this branch of medical science as any member of the profession. As a practitioner he enjoyed a highly successful career, both from the pecuniary standpoint and in the treatment of patients, commanding to the fullest extent the confidence of his patrons and the respect of his fellow practitioners, and keeping abreast of the mark of progress in the field of medical research, and doing much toward the advancement of surgery.
When Dr. DeVilbiss began to practice the atomizers employed in surgical operations were capable of applying medication in but one direction, thus necessitating the use of several of these instruments in a single application. Being of an ingenious turn of mind, he devoted a great deal of time and study to the situation, and finally invented and perfected an atomizer which would allow the treatment to reach all the affected portions by turning an adjustable tip. He also became deeply interested in brain surgery, to which he devoted considerable study, and invented an instrument which not only replaced the old chisel and mallet formerly employed in surgery, but enables operations to be performed in much less time and without the injury and shock formerly experienced by the patient. It is now used in operating on various flat bones of the body, and has been adopted by the United States government and many of the world’s foremost surgeons.
In 1890 Dr. DeVilbiss withdrew from the active practice of medicine, having previously embarked in the manufacture of the above instruments of his own invention. In 1900 his son, Thomas A., purchased half interest in the business, which was then expanded so as to include the manufacture of a general line of spraying and surgical instruments and supplies. In June, 1905, they incorporated as the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company, of which Dr. DeVilbiss was president until his death. While he was president his son, Thomas A.,was vice president and general manager and Frank C. Penoyar secretary. The company enjoys an extensive and lucrative patronage, and with a branch factory in Canada and offices established in several foreign countries it has extended its marketing operations practically to all parts of the globe. 'Dr. DeVilbiss was affiliated with the Toledo Post and the Grand Army of the Republic.
There was a Thomas DeVilbiss High School in Toledo, but it was closed a few years ago. That building now houses the Toledo Technology Academy, which is a high school focused on engineering and manufacturing technology.
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