A decontaminator-washer-dryerpowderer for surgical gloves.

The cleaning, washing, drying, and powdering of surgical rubber gloves is a disagreeable task requiring a good deal of manipulation, and consequently a relatively large expenditure of man hours. It is necessary, too, when gloves are used in laboratories working with pathogens that a preliminary decontamination be given to prevent the gloves from becoming a source of infection. Graham (1957) described commercial-scale equipment which could wash about 900 gloves at a time, but it did not decontaminate, dry, or powder them. Mechanization of these operations seemed possible, and the feasibility of processing gloves in a household-size machine was jointly investigated by Whirlpool Corporation, St. Joseph, Michigan, and Fort Detrick personnel. Preliminary development by Whirlpool Corporation included a decontamination cycle before washing, engineering modifications, and rubber-life tests. Because of the mutual interest in this equipment and its potential savings for Fort Detrick operations, government personnel operated the equipment and assessed its performance under actual laboratory conditions. Tests were made in a unit of about 16 laboratories, where an average of about 1,200 gloves were used per week. Tests proved that the modified washer-dryer was satisfactory for preliminary decontaminating, washing, drying, and powdering of both the outside and inside of the gloves. A description of the modified washer-dryer and an evaluation of the equipment in operational use, as made under this contract, are reported in this paper.