In 1932, the U.S. patent office granted Dr. George Jesse Brett (1896 to 1969) patent rights to his Anaesthetizer, which he manufactured as an anesthesia machine branded “Brettometer” (left). Forty-eight years after that patent, a Kansas City Royals third-baseman, George Brett, was intermittently topping a batting average of .400. Soon, many American newspapers began following baseballer Brett with daily “Brett-ometer” or “Brettometer” charts (right) detailing where the slugger’s batting average stood on that given day. So remarkably, the twentieth century ushered in two unrelated gentlemen named George Brett, each of whom was responsible for his own well publicized Brettometer. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
In 1932, the U.S. patent office granted Dr. George Jesse Brett (1896 to 1969) patent rights to his Anaesthetizer, which he manufactured as an anesthesia machine branded “Brettometer” (left). Forty-eight years after that patent, a Kansas City Royals third-baseman, George Brett, was intermittently topping a batting average of .400. Soon, many American newspapers began following baseballer Brett with daily “Brett-ometer” or “Brettometer” charts (right) detailing where the slugger’s batting average stood on that given day. So remarkably, the twentieth century ushered in two unrelated gentlemen named George Brett, each of whom was responsible for his own well publicized Brettometer. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
