UV branding iron for newborns

The December, 1938 issue of Popular Science carried a glowing (heh) account of a UV branding iron used to scorch newborns' initials into their tender skin so that the nurses wouldn't mix up the babies.

A new hand-type ultraviolet-ray lamp makes it easier for nurses in a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital to brand the initials of a new-born baby on his skin to prevent identification mix-ups in the hospital nursery. Soft ultra-violet rays pass through stenciled initials placed within the easily handled unit to tan the letters on the infant as well as on the mother. Harmless, the identification brand is said to remain visible for a period of two weeks.

New Sun Lamp Held in Hand Brands Babies (Dec, 1938)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • Kids • Old school

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

Izak

At least they are not surgically altering the child’s genitalia.
Steven

when did “marker pens” become a thing? you have markers, and you have pens, and it is far too early for me to have to question my grip on conventional english.
byronba

OK…. is anybody besides me hearing the theme music from Rawhide?

Just askin….
angryhippo

How about uses now? Temporary “tan tats”? I’m going to go trademark that right now…
Mim

@#16 – “marker pens” may be a hint that a Canadian (*gasp*) is trying to infiltrate our conversation and blend in! Canadians call markers “felts” or “felt pens” (in elementary school at least). “Marker pen” is a logical attempt for a Canadian to make when trying to steal ‘Merica’s pure language to blend in.
RyanH

Cattle prods for babies? That’s adorable!
Xenu

What’s NOT wrong with this picture?
Anonymous

So this is just a sunburn stenciled on to infants? Sounds like there might be some potential for skin cancer.
PeterNBiddle

But dude, they are SOFT uv rays. Those are the special kind – they don’t hurt!

Also note that they would be used for the mother as well. S’better than one of those label makers!
spazzm

What’s so bad about a mixup? One baby is pretty much the same as any other.
error404

In the Welsh valleys when hospital births became the norm they didn’t trust the nurses to give them back the same baby so they’d tattoo dots between the infants toes.

I’d heard that it was often in morse spellign the initials.

The tattoo was pretty much gone by adulthood apparently.
Agent 86

Now with twice the cancer!
Agent 86

Also, this baby could use some ironing
rebdav

I was always mildly paranoid about this happening, but my hippy wife decided that home was a nicer place to have a healthy babies.
error404

UK: Felt tip pen

US: Marker

CANADA:…….?

Australia: TEXTA

Glasgow: Inky
Astin

@19 – I’m a Canadian and have never called a marker any of those things, ever. Nor have I known anyone who has.

A pen is a pen (be it ball-point, fountain, felt-tip, or other), and a marker is big stinky pen-like object that nobody confuses with a pen. But I’ve never heard a marker called a “felt” or “felt pen” or even a “marker pen”. Perhaps you have your region wrong.
CVR

Ayn Rand looks like she has a crush on that nurse, doesn’t she? I guess anyone willing to man up her little bundle of joy would earn the googly eyes, though.
Daemon_of_Waffle

CVR: Why wouldn’t she? The nurse is quite easy on the eyes.
dainel

Why not just write the name with a marker pen, say on the bottom of one feet? Did marker pens not exist then?
Agies

@11

Marker pens can be erased.

@4

Some would beg to differ.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1253
StrawberryFrog

Marker pens is a good idea, but they can be washed off, unlike this.

I assume that compared to lifetime sun exposure (think of all the sunburns that the average kid gets over the years), that the skin damage/cancer risk from this is negligible.

I wonder why it never caught on – was baby-swapping not such a big problem after all?
rabinowitz

It never caught on because then someone invented paper wristbands.
bcsizemo

As a child I used to browse through my mom’s old medical books and they are full of stuff like this. They also provided a wonderful picture of life before everything became politically correct. In one of her pediatric books there is a whole section on child deformities, which explicit pictures (ewww, haha…)

Also check out the size of that iron. Talk about industrial. I bet you could mount a counter on it, and it would easily pass the million baby mark. The reason things laster longer in the past, no plastics…
Modusoperandi

Mim “”marker pens” may be a hint that a Canadian (*gasp*) is trying to infiltrate our conversation and blend in! Canadians call markers “felts” or “felt pens” (in elementary school at least). “Marker pen” is a logical attempt for a Canadian to make when trying to steal ‘Merica’s pure language to blend in.”
Similar (but with a reverse of national affiliation) to “ice hockey”?
LightningCrash

It would be cooler if it were steampunk.
Suburbancowboy

Coming soon: Genetically modify your baby to be born with a barcode.

From your friends at Monsanto.

(Also available Roundup Ready babies)