Original Items: Only One Lot of 4 Available. A fateful conversation inspired the creation of Johnson & Johnson’s First Aid Kit, which was released in 1888. Aboard a train heading to Colorado for vacation, company founder Robert Wood Johnson struck up a conversation with the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s chief surgeon. The doctor explained to Johnson the dangers of railroad construction and the lack of medical supplies to treat the unique industrial injuries that were often incurred great distances from hospitals. From this exchange, Johnson saw an opportunity to both advance the field of healthcare and build his young business. And from this modern need, the commercial First Aid Kit was born.

In 1913 the U.S. Army developed a medical belt to be used on the battlefield. The belt had ten pockets which contained a tourniquet, adhesive plaster, safety pins, iodine, gauze, field dressing, bandages, ammonia, pins and diagnosis tags. A canteen hanger and ax carrier were also a part of the belt, along with various other accessories.

But during WWI, it became evident that the medical belt design was not effective. It did not withstand the trials of war. Both the packaging and the contents were considered utterly useless in the field, and the medical belt was no longer used by the U.S. military.

By World War II, medical corpsmen wore just two medical pouches at the waist, which wouldn’t interfere with mobility – a lesson learned by the failure of the medical belt. Johnson & Johnson continued evolving the first aid kit for widespread use by every individual and industry.

As technology continues to advance, the contents of the medical kit continue to advance as well. But many of the original items have stood the test of time. Although tourniquets, dressings and other items have changed throughout the years, the general concept of the medical kit remains the same – to save lives.

The Kits Featured In This Grouping:
- First Aid Kit, Airplane: The kit bag itself is made of rubberized canvas and in functioning condition. The contents appear to be complete and unused. Some of the items include bandages and gauze both regular and camouflage, muslin compressed bandages, ammonia salts, tape and bandaids.

- Post Vietnam Era Individual First Aid Kit: The kit comes complete with the plastic case insert, iodine solution, chapstick, field dressings and bandages, gauze, bandages, eye dressings, water purification tablets and an original contents list.

- Surgical Instrument Kit, Minor Surgery: The kit is only missing one instrument. There are bandages, forceps, scissors, scalpel with blades in an unissued case.

- M13 Individual Decontaminating And Re-Impregnating Kit: The ABC-M13 refers to an individual decontamination and re-impregnation kit developed and issued to United States military forces starting in 1965 and was considered obsolete and taken out of the inventory in 1989. The kit was replaced by the M-258 and subsequently, the M-258A1 decontamination kits. The decontamination kit was used only after chemical agent attack. The instructions for decontamination was printed on the container of the kit.

All items come more than ready to display!

Idiot Clause - the contents of this kit are pre-1960 manufacture and are NOT suitable for use. They are being sold as novelty collector pieces only.