Abstract: A surgical blade package facilitates the mounting of a surgical blade on to the forwardly-projecting cleat on a scalpel handle; and following use in the O.R., the surgical blade package facilitates stripping the used blade off the scalpel for disposal in a sharps container. The cleat is inserted beneath the rear end portion of the blade, and between the blade and the bottom wall of the blade package; and forward and upward movement of the scalpel snaps the blade on to the scalpel in a continuous movement. The opposite procedure is used to demount the used blade from the scalpel and encase it in the original blade package for disposal in a sharps container.

Abstract: A guarded surgical scalpel has a manually-releasable lock on its blade stripper to prevent inadvertent or accidental ejection of the blade off the scalpel.

Abstract: Two attachments are provided for a nebulizer which is used to administer a liquid medication in aerosol form to the respiratory tract of a patient by inhalation. One attachment is a reservoir which is interposed between the nebulizer and the patient's mouth for trapping and returning to the nebulizer liquid medication which separates from the aerosol. The other attachment is for use when the nebulizer is used in combination with a spirometer. The spirometer comprises a conduit containing a rotor. The inhaled air causes the rotor to spin, the air then mixes with the aerosol produced by the nebulizer and the mixture of air and aerosol is inhaled by the patient. The second attachment is a one-way valve interposed between the spirometer rotor and the point at which the aerosol is introduced into the air stream and is arranged to permit the passage of air only in the direction of inhalation whereby contamination of the spirometer rotor by the medication is prevented.