Historical information

Dr. Joseph Clover (1825-1882), an English physician, first described his Portable Regulating Ether Inhaler on Jan. 20, 1877. Clover was an especially sought after anesthesiologist and early pioneer in the specialty. This was the best-known of many inhalers that Clover designed. The dome-shaped reservoir was turned to points on a control dial to gradually increase or decrease the percentage of the air that passed over the ether. Several inventors based new inhalers on this, while the original continued to be manufactured as late as the beginning of WWII.

Physical description

Metal dome chamber with flat base and two circular pains of glass on each side of the dome as viewing holes. There is a long connector tube with an elbow joint attached to a bulb for a rebreather bag. A previous exhibition label, typed in black ink on buff coloured card, has been tied to the connector.

Inscriptions & markings

Moulded into the connector for the rebreather bag: MAYER & MELTZER No 212827
•Printed in white on blue sticker: O.2.9.
•Stamped into dome: MAYER & MELTZER / LONDON
•Typed onto exhibition label: MODIFIED CLOVER'S INHALER. / c.1906. / Name unknown. the modification consists / in windows to shew the ether-level in the / bowl. The inhaler has otherwise the same / restricted channels as the model of 1877 / and shares its faults. / (Gift of Dr. A.E. Rowden White, 1939).