Various forms of intravenous injection and infusion have been around as far back as the late 1600s.

However, it wasn't until 1853 that Charles Gabriel Pravaz and Alexander Wood developed a needle
fine enough to pierce the skin. The syringe was the first device used to inject morphine as a
painkiller. The breakthroughalso eliminated many of the technical difficulties facing those
experimenting with blood transfusion.

Credit for the evolution of the universally useful hypodermic syringe with its hollow, pointed needle
is usually given to Dr. Wood. He came up with the invention after experimenting with a hollow
needle for the administration of drugs and found that the method was not necessarily limited to the
administration of opiates.

Eventually, he felt confident enough to publish a short paper in The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Review titled “A New Method of Treating Neuralgia by the Direct Application of Opiates to the
Painful Points.” At about the same time, Charles Gabriel Pravaz, of Lyon, was making a similar
syringe that quickly came into use during surgeries under the name of the “Pravaz Syringe.”

A Brief Timeline of Disposable Syringes

 Arthur E. Smith received eight U.S. patents for disposable syringes in 1949 and 1950.
 In 1954, Becton, Dickinson and Company created the first mass-produced disposable
syringe and needle produced in glass. It was developed for Dr. Jonas Salk's mass
administration of the new Salk polio vaccine for one million American children.
 Roehr Products introduced a plastic disposable hypodermic syringe called the Monoject in
1955.
 Colin Murdoch, a pharmacist from Timaru, New Zealand, patented a plastic disposable
syringe to replace the glass syringe in 1956. Murdoch patented a total of 46
inventions, including a silent burglar alarm, automatic syringes for vaccinating animals, the
childproof bottle top and the tranquilizer gun.
 In 1961, Becton Dickinson introduced its first plastic disposable syringe, the Plastipak.
 African American inventor Phil Brooks received a U.S. patent for a disposable syringe on
April 9, 1974.

Syringes for Vaccinations

Benjamin A. Rubin is credited for inventing the "pronged vaccinating and testing needle"
or vaccination needle. This was a refinement to the conventional syringe needle.
Dr. Edward Jenner performed the first vaccination. The English physician began to
develop vaccines by studying the link between smallpox and cowpox, a milder disease. He injected
one boy with cowpox and found that the boy became immune to smallpox. Jenner published his
findings in 1798. Within three years, as many as 100,000 people in Britain had been vaccinated
against smallpox.

Alternatives to Syringes