The Old Equipment

Over the Years the Equipment has progressed enourmously. Here's some examples of how things used to be.

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Clinitest Tablets

Prior to Blood Sugar testing the Standard way of checking Sugars was by measuring the Glucose in your Urine. Because of the Equipment involved it was usually done at Home. There was nothing 'portable' about it

This was the Routine

1. Pee in a Jar
2. Draw Urine into an Eye Dropper
3. Drop 5 Drops into a Small Glass Test Tube
4. Flush the Eye Dropper out and then fill it with Water
5. Drop 10 Drops of Water into the Test Tube
6. 6Swish it around to mix it
7. Drop Clinitest Tablet into the Test Tube. It would Fizz and Boil and steaming Fumes would come out the top of the Test Tube.
8. Once it has stopped, compare the colour against the Chart.

And the results ?

1. Blue - Zero
2. Green - 1/4 %
3. Dark Green - 1/2 %
4. Brown - 1%
5. Orange - 2%

Blood Meters

The 'Stan Clark' Meter.

Prior to about 1978, testing of Blood Sugars was performed in a Hospital or at a Pathologists. The machines were far too expensive for a Patient to Own

Blood Tests could be perfomed at home only using a Finger Pricker and putting a Drop of Blood on a Test Strip and then comparing the Colour against the Coloured Scale on the Test Strip Bottle.

Around 1978, Stan Clark, an Engineer in Sydney, Australia, designed a Machine that would read the Level from the Test Strip.

Stan's daughter had been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes 

<Reflectance> meter

Historical fact : Stan's Factory was in Dee Why, a suburb of Sydney. 

  Photo courtesy of Tony Bernauer

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This was one of the Original Finger Prickers to get Blood for the Test Strip. This thing was evil. When you Pressed the Release button, the Arm would swing down and drive the Lancet into your Finger.

Photo courtesy of Carolyn