Greig Smith artery forceps, steel, nickel plated, by Down Bros. of London, early 20th century

Artery forceps are used to compress the artery and seal small blood vessels or to hold the artery out of the way during surgery. These forceps were invented in 1895 by James Greig Smith (1854-1897), a Scottish surgeon. It was quite common for surgeons to invent new instruments to aid their work.

These forceps have hollow jaws which could compress vessels at the sides. They could also hold tissues that ballooned when filled with blood without causing any damage to them.