[Reprinted from The Medical News, September 29, 1894.] 
THE TUBE-STRIPPER. 
By A. L. BENEDICT, A.M., M.D., 
LECTURER ON DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS, DENTAL 
DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO ; CONSULTANT 
IN DIGESTIVE DISEASES, RIVERSIDE HOSPITAL, 
BUFFALO. 
The instrument to be described was devised in the 
spring of 1893. Its construction was suggested by the 
difficulty of removing the stomach-contents through the 
usual tube. Cases in which expression of the gastric 
contents is practicable by forcible pressure over the 
organ are rare, while an attempt to strip the tube with 
the fingers is tedious and, on account of friction, causes 
an annoying jerking. At the same time, it is evident 
that the ordinary aspirators and the rotary surgical pump 
might cause hemorrhage by too powerful suction. 
The instrument consists of the levers of a heavy cut- 
ting-forceps. A roller, with flanges to prevent the slip- 
ping-off of the tube, is attached at an angle of 1050 to 
each cross-piece of the forceps. The rollers are, of course, 
parallel, whether the levers are open or shut. An angle 
a little greater than 900 was chosen, so that the hand 
would not interfere with the tube as it passes between 
the rollers. By holding the handles together and run- 
ning the rollers down the tube the air is forced out, while 
the elasticity of the rubber causes a vacuum into which 
the stomach-contents rush. At the same time the suction 
of an ordinary length of tube is not sufficient to damage 
the stomach-wall should it be drawn into the openings 
in the tube, unless some serious ulceration or vascular 2 
degeneration exists. In such cases the passage of the 
stomach-tube would, at any rate, be contra-indicated. 
A threaded bar is fitted into one handle of the instru- 
ment and passes through an opening in the other handle. 
A nut with a milled margin is placed on this bar between 
the handles, so that exactly the desired degree of com- 
pression can be exerted. A second nut outside the 
handle serves to lock the instrument, although this is 
seldom necessary. 
The instrument has proved satisfactory as an adjunct 
to the stomach-tube. I have had but one opportunity 
to test its usefulness in other directions, namely, in a 
case of pleurisy with effusion. About a yard of rubber 
tubing was fitted into the end of a simple aspirating- 
needle, which was plunged into the chest with all 
aseptic precautions. The tube was stripped with the 
instrument, an assistant pinching the tube near the 
canula when it was necessary to reapply the rubber. 
About 400 c.c. of dark fluid were removed, when the 
patient began to cough and aspiration was discontinued. 
It was not necessary to tap again. 3 
The cost of the tube-stripper is about $2.50, so that the 
entire cost of an aspirating outfit will be less than $5. 
While too feeble and slow in its action for many of the 
purposes for which a surgical pump is needed, this instru- 
ment has the advantage of compelling extreme caution, 
and, in many cases it will be found an efficient, simple, 
and cheap substitute for various expensive aspirators.