Page 4
Duke Hospital, InterCom
THOMAS B. ORR and Bill Barber are seen here working at two of their machines in the
Surgical Instrument Shop in the Research Building.
Thomas Orr and Bill Barber Invent,
Repair, Remodel in Instrument Shop
“Jf tliej- can dream them up, we
can make them!”
That’s the way Thomas B. Orr de
scribes his work in tlie Surgical In
strument Sliop in the basement of the
Research Buildin".
Mr. Orr and liis assistant, Hill Bar
ber, estimate that some lO.OOO items
have been made for the De])artments
of Snr>:ery and Medicine since the
shop was o])ened in 1947.
“What kinds of thinjs do you
make?” is the hardest question Mr.
Orr has to answer. The best answer
is “anything” to aid the doctors in
their work and studies, whether that
“anything” be a new design badly
needed l)y the ])rofession, a modifica
tion or improvement of an established
item, or the re])air of fragile instru
ments already in use.
Any day may find Mr. Orr and Mr.
Barber working on one particularly
difficult problem or in various stages
of f)() or 100 items. With their com
plicated drill presses, lathes, milling
machines, surface grinder and simi
lar mechanical devices, they turn all
sorts of metals and plastics into in
struments and machines to facilitate
doctors’ work.
The variety is as all-inclusive as
the jobs the surgeons and doctors do
themselves. On the work table may be
a little diaphragm ])ump designed to
use in breathing a])paratus or a mo
nometer calibrator for blood pressure
e(juipment.
Pioneered by Dr. Hart, the shop
has worked closely with doctors in de-
veloj)ing many things which are now
in use in hospitals all over the
country.
The Trilene mask which Dr. Ste
phen develo])ed is a good example.
“Masks of a similar type were made
in England,” said Mr. Orr, “but a
new one had to be develojjed for pat
ent here.”
Recent developments have included
a Suture King, which enables the
.surgeon to carry suture on his finger
for easy use.
“Dr. Carver was ti-ying to think
u)) a new way of handling suture,
and the answer evolved in a chrome
l)lated brass ring, into which the su
ture bobbin fits,” Mr. Barber ex
plained.
Another recent innovation devel
oped by Dr. Hart and the shop is an
operating table which takes up one-
six of the space usually needed. The
design is a nest of adjustable tables
which the surgeon touches by foot to
bring into a level position. I)r. Hart
has estimated a savings of $4,000 in
building space for the new wing to
store eight conventional tyj)e tables.
Also in the category of new devel
opments was Dr. Beard’s automatic
microslide project; a device to deter
mine the amoinit of oxygen in the
blood stream, developed of precision
glass with platinum wire only %onoth
of an inch in diameter; and a modi
fication of a stationary eye camera
to one that was adjustable to the pa
tient’s iiosition.
Mr. Orr came to Duke three years
ago to make life-saving equipment
after many years of making instru
ments, as he says,” for killing
j)eo])le.”
He spent seven years with the Xa-
val Gun Factory in Washington, I).
C. and the Naval Torpedo Unit at
Alexandria, working in this country
and abroad. He served with the De
partment of Education and also
taught at N. C. State College for a
year, leaving to be director of me
chanical training at the Memphis A^o-
cational School. Later, he worked with
machine gun and aircraft parts and
then opened his own tool and dye
shoj) in Memphis, expanding his shop
to include Colorado and Loui.siana.
In 1945, he retired to Florida, but
returned to North Carolina to work
with diesel engines for Southern Rail
way in North Caroliiia, leaving the
company to join the Duke shop. Mr.
Orr is nuirried and has three daugh
ters and a son.
The InterCom is ])nblished bi
monthly by Duke Hospital and
the Duke Hospital Women’s
Auxiliary.
Mrs. II. Shelton Smith
Mrs. Watt Eagle
Mrs. Alan ilanehester
Mrs. Eugene Stead
Mrs. Earl Porter, Chairman
J. M. Pyne
Elon Clark
Richard Bindewald
Ij. E. Swanson
Wendell Weisend, Advisor