Soluvac 1000 ml blood transfusion flask

Glass transfusion flask with capacity of 1000 ml marked in gradations of 200 mls down one side, and the name SOLUVAC moulded into the glass. Clamped to the base is a swivel wire handle. Contained within the neck of the bottle is a rubber stopper marked with the Soluvac name. This is supplied with holes, one for a glass tube running to within 12 mm of the base of the bottle, the other for a short metal tube to which the transfusion rubber tube is attached. The stopper is held in with an open-topped aluminium screw cap.

After an inter-war hiatus, the Second World War provided a real impetus to the development of blood transfusion and storage, and the preparation of plasma and serum. In Australia, the outbreak of war saw the formation of a Medical Coordination Committee which recommended that the Red Cross should take responsibility of blood donor recruitment; this was developed in conjunction with the New South Wales Blood Transfusion Service which concentrated on serum preparation. Additionally, 2 Australian Blood and Serum Preparation Unit was formed to handle the frontline organisation of blood and serum distribution. Serum proved life-saving in the treatment of burns victims (many thousands of whom required treatment during this conflict), demanding a high workload on the Blood Transfusion Service. The development of desiccated serum also took priority in the United States, with research and commercial development led by the pharmaceutical company of Eli Lilly and Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, who had, by 1943, developed the means for full-scale production of penicillin. The Australian Red Cross supplied huge amounts of blood, plasma and serum to American Pacific Forces, and much American material, usually supply by Eli Lilly, was used in Australia.