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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
License© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
© The Board of Trustees of the
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Bonwill electromagnetic mallet, with Dr. M.H. Webb's improvements, cased, by the S.S. White Co., USA, 1880-1890
This was the first dental device to utilize electricity, patented by William Bonwill in 1873. An electrified dental hammer or mallet (nicknamed a dental plugger), It was used to ‘plug’ cavities with gold - like modern day fillings.
Bonwill’s design was improved and successfully marketed by Dr. M.H. Webb in 1877, and this mallet is an example of this design.
These devices were also used in early tattooing, with Samuel O’Reilly – the inventor of the electric tattoo machine – stated in a number of interviews in the 1890s that an adapted dental plugger was his first tattoo machine.
Bonwill electromagnetic mallet, with Dr. M.H. Webb's improvements, by the S.S. White Co., USA, 1880-1890
