Dr. Ralph and Mrs. Olga Crawford Canadian Dental Collection
Category
Diagnostic & Treatment Artifacts
Classification
Dental
Accession Number
010020061 a-e
Description
Metal foot-powered dental drill, enamelled in black; triangular base with foot pedal attached (a); pedal has diamond pattern etching on heel, manufacturer's logo embossed in middle; metal pole attaches foot pedal to wheel, which spins when foot pedal is pushed down; wheel has four curved spokes and…
Metal foot-powered dental drill, enamelled in black; triangular base with foot pedal attached (a); pedal has diamond pattern etching on heel, manufacturer's logo embossed in middle; metal pole attaches foot pedal to wheel, which spins when foot pedal is pushed down; wheel has four curved spokes and is attached to upright support; dental drill (b) made up of adjustable silver metal handpiece attached to black silk-covered rubber tube which leads into silver metal tube; metal pole has black-enamelled metal wheel, brown wooden wheel with white bristles coming out of edges at end; silver metal pole (c) with two knobs near bottom goes into base; smaller silver metal pole (d) connects drill to larger pole; purple fabric belt (e) attaches to wheels
Number Of Parts
5
Part Names
a - base - Size: Length 62.8 cm x Width 43.5 cm x Depth 31.0 cm
b - drill - Size: Length 1.04 m x Width 11.5 cm x Depth 4.4 cm
c - pole - Size: Length 55.3 cm x Width 5.4 cm x Depth 1.7 cm
d - pole - Size: Length 28.9 cm x Diam. 1.0 cm
e - belt - Size: Length 1.26 m x Diam. 0.2 cm
Provenance
Transfer from the Dental Canada Fund; previously housed in the Dentistry Canada Museum (Ottawa)
(a) Engraved on base: "28482"; (b) engraved on metal tube: "DEGUSSA", "PATENTE // JLLIG"; engraved on handpiece: "THE S.S. WHITE DENTAL MFG CO. // U.S.A. PATENT. // AUG. 19. 1890 // THE S.S. WHITE DENTAL MFG. CO."; engraved on wooden wheel: "406"
Permanent Location
Storage Room W2
W2-536-2-1
Condition Remarks
Enamel peeling on base and wheel; silk on (b) worn but rubber underneath is flexible; 12 cm section of (e) has frayed
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Book
JPG
Reference Comments
“S.S. White Dental Catalog, Catalog-B”, S.S. White Dental Mfg. Co., 1917, p. 2-3 (similar to S.S. White Cable Engine); "James Beall Morrison: The Visionary who Revolutionized the Practice of Dentistry", Malvin E. Ring and Neal Hurley, Journal of the ADA, 2000:131, p. 1165-66
CD #9
Research Facts
Dr Ralph and Mrs Olga Crawford donated their extensive Canadian dental collection to the DCF to create the museum in 1997; further donations were received while Dr Crawford was Curator Emeritus at the Dental Canada Museum until its closure in 2008; the foot-powered dental drill was patented in 1871 by American inventor James Beall Morrison; the S.S. White Dental Catalogue from 1917 states that their drills are the most simple, the most direct and the most effective of any on the market