RT Journal
A1 Rutkow IM
T1 THe surgeon's glove
JF Archives of Surgery
JO Archives of Surgery
YR 1999
FD February 1
VO 134
IS 2
SP 223
OP 223
DO 10.1001/archsurg.134.2.223
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.134.2.223
AB 
ONCE ANTISEPTIC and aseptic techniques had been finally accepted as part of routine surgical practice (mid 1890s), it was inevitable that other elaborate operating room rituals would similarly take hold. The use of gloves, face masks, operating gowns, and caps naturally evolved. In 1843, along with other developments in rubber processing, the procedure of vulcanization (treating crude rubber with sulfur or its compounds and subjecting it to heat to make it nonplastic and increase its strength and elasticity) was patented and the use of rubber gloves became a possibility. However, surgeons were generally reluctant to use such devices, primarily because until the 1870s no truly flexible, functional glove had been designed. This situation changed in 1878, when Thomas Forster, an employee of the India-Rubber Works in Surrey, England, was granted both British and United States patents for the "manufacture of gloves for surgical operations."