How the rubber glove was invented | Moments of Vision 4 - Jessica Oreck

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It’s hard to imagine a modern hospital being able to function without rubber gloves — but they weren’t actually invented until 1890. In the fourth installment of our ‘Moments of Vision’ series, Jessica Oreck shares the surprisingly romantic origin of rubber gloves.

Lesson and animation by Jessica Oreck.

In a Moment of Vision...

It's the winter of 1890.

Dr. William Halsted is the chief surgeon
at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The scrub nurse under Halsted,
a woman named Caroline Hampton,

begins to develop a severe reaction
to the strong disinfectants

used to scour her hands and arms
before surgery.

Halsted takes an interest in her plight.

In a moment of vision, he asks
Goodyear rubber company

to experiment with the production
of a pair of thin rubber gloves.

They fit Caroline, well, like gloves,
and her hands begin to recover.

In fact, the gloves are such a success

that the good doctor orders more
for his team and for himself.

From these early experiments,

a multibillion dollar rubber glove
industry is born.

And it turns out the doctor didn't
just want to protect the nurse's hands.

He also wanted to take them
in holy matrimony.

Halsted and Caroline were married

just a few months after he gave
her that first pair of gloves.