Vintage First Aid Kits and equipment

There was another thread about the type of equipment that would go in early rigs. I was told that a well equipped rig would, at best, have good First Aid kit. I was fortunate to acquire a decent Johnson & Johnson Industrial First Aid kit with quite a bit of the original items still in it. Thought I'd share it and get more input regarding what should be in a 1951 ambulance. The Chevy is not yet ready for the road (close but no cigar yet) but I keep picking up what I will eventually need. The kit is missing all of the bottled items so if anyone has leads please let me know. I want to keep to items no later than about '54. Also, for the historians out there what else should I be looking for? I have the gurney, mattress, dated blankets and such. What about O2 on these?

I would guess by bottled products you mean the bottle of Iodine. that's a nice kit. you have a cotton stripped mattress for the car? O2 was not a common thing to carry in the 50's but some did. most had some kind of wood splints at least. I'll look threw my pictures and see what I have that is dated.

Bottle contents

You called it right on the gurney mattress. It is the blue & white stripe version w/ pillow to match. The pic does not show it well but each drawer is labled. The lable is not paper but lithoed on the metal itself. All of the unused splints are there (2nd drawer). The bottled items were:

1 - 3 oz bottle Boric Acid Solution
1 - 2 oz bottle Iodine
1 - 2 oz bottle Aromatic Ammonia
1 - 2 oz bottle Castor Oil
2 - 3 oz Bicarbonic of Soda and Petroleum
(there were two 3 oz listed. I think it was to be one of each. Looked really weird when I first read it Anyone know why it might be listed like that?)

The only other thing for the kit that I want to find is an original 2 oz J&J box of Absorbant cotton (there were three boxes but one will do when I find it)

I remember getting all of these types of things applied and used back in the '40s & '50s on my brothers and me. Modern medicine for the time.

thomas splint

A Thomas half ring traction splint, the forerunner to the numerous traction splints that are available today, would have been in several rigs of the day. Most of these used cravats for stabilization and traction application.