Letitia Mumford Geer

Letitia Mumford Geer (1852– July 18, 1935) was an American nurse who invented the one-hand medical syringe.

Letitia Mumford Geer
Born	1852 New York City
Died	July 18, 1935 (age 83) Brooklyn, New York
Occupation	Nurse
Known for	One-handed medical syringe

Early life

Geer was born in 1852 in New York City to George Warren Geer and Cornelia Matilda Geer (nee Mumford);^[1][2][3] Letitia Geer was one of four children.^[1]

Career

After spending a few years teaching, Geer moved to Chicago, where she met her husband, Charles Geer, a businessman who was involved in the manufacturing of surgical instruments.^[4]

Geer also helped her husband in his business; she thought that the syringes being manufactured were difficult to use because they were often imprecise and unsanitary. This influenced her to create a more precise syringe. On February 12, 1896, Geer filed for a patent for the one-handed medical syringe design.^[5] Her design was given a patent three years later under the publication number 'US622848A', in 1899.^[5] Some hospitals prefer to use other methods. At the time, there were also other companies that started to produce syringes that were copies of Geer's design.^[4]

In 1904, Geer founded the Geer Manufacturing Company to develop her design for medical syringes. She invented the nasal speculum and a retractor.^[4] Her invention inspires modern-day syringes.^[3] She became an activist and was involved with the National American Woman Suffrage Association.^[4]

Design breakdown

Greer's patent for a syringe^[6]

According to Geer's patent, "In a hand-syringe the combination of a cylinder, a piston and an operating-rod which is bent upon itself to form a smooth and rigid arm terminating in a handle, which, in its extreme positions, is located within reach of the fingers of the hand which holds the cylinder, thus permitting one hand to hold and operate the syringe..."

Her syringe design had a detachable needle, a rubber plunger, and a cylindrical glass barrel. The rubber plunger could draw fluids into the syringe. Additionally, the plunger had a U-shaped handle.^[1]

Death

Letitia Geer died on July 18, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 83.^[3]