Barnabas Wood

Barnabas Wood (born May 17, 1819 in Guilderland , Albany County , New York , † May 30, 1875 in Albany , New York) was an American dentist and inventor. He is known for the discovery of an easy-melting alloy , Wood's metal , named after him .

Applications of Wood's metal

A piece of Wood's metal

Wood also used his alloy for dental fillings despite the content of the toxic elements lead and cadmium . The alternative amalgam fillings contain mercury , which is also toxic , but the mercury and the silver alloyed with it are so precious that they hardly come off. The constituents of Wood's metal, bismuth , lead , cadmium and tin , are ignoble and therefore dissolve more easily in the mouth, so that there is a particular risk of chronic cadmium poisoning.

Wood's alloy was the first metal used in self-releasing sprinkler systems for fire fighting. The trigger temperature of 60 ° C has been adopted for fire fighting systems in the USA and most other countries. One problem was the inadequate creep resistance of the alloy when it was under mechanical tension when the system was idle. That is why the sprinkler heads were built in such a way that the mechanical stress was reduced.

Life

Wood received brief medical training at Albany Medical College in Albany in 1841 . He then worked as a dentist in his brother's company. In 1851 he moved to Nashville , Tennessee , where he completed his medical degree at the University of Nashville in 1852 . There he received a patent in 1860 for a group of alloys made of bismuth, tin, lead and cadmium, which were mixed in such a ratio that a very low melting point of around 70 ° C was reached, so that the metal was melted in hot water can be. By further optimizing the mixture, a melting point of only 60 ° C can be achieved. Soon after, the alloy was named after Wood, e.g. B. by James Dwight Dana .

Wood claims to have received many inquiries about his invention and wrote a circular to answer them. In it he praised the advantages of its metal filling:

“Because it does not require force to bring it in, it can be safely used in fragile teeth, and children's teeth, etc., where pressure would damage them. [...] It is inferior to gold insofar as it is subject to stronger tarnishing in certain mouth conditions, but in this respect it is superior to the other metals used for this purpose. "

Wood stayed in Tennessee until the Civil War broke out in 1861 , which caused him to return to New York State. In 1867 he graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery . He also acted as the editor of various medical publications or magazines.

Examples of works written by Barnabas Wood

Medico-dental Education: On the Organization of Schools of Dental Surgery in Connection with Medical Colleges, 1852, 8 pages, OCLC number: 70905701, At head of caption title: Re-published from the Nashville journal of medicine and surgery, for April 1852.
Condition of dental surgery in its relation to medicine, printed and published by JF Morgan, Nashville, 1853, 142 pages, OCLC number: 67905307, Detached from The Southern journal of the medical and dental sciences, v.1, no.2, March, 1853, Dept. of dental surgery, art. 36-39; title from art. 36.
Plastic Metallic Filling: Directions for Using ... [Albany, ca.1860], OCLC number: 84938600
Dr. B. Wood's Plastic Metallic Filling: Embraced in Letters Patent Granted March 20, 1860, Patent for the Improvement Allowed, 8 pages, OCLC number: 656586407

Individual evidence

^ Finding Aid for the Barnabas Wood Papers MS.3459. Biographical / Historical Note. In: Special Collections Online. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, accessed March 30, 2015 .
↑ ^a ^b Barnabas Wood: Dr. B. Wood's plastic metallic filling . Embraced in letters patent granted March 20, 1860, patent for the improvement allowed. 1860, OCLC 656586407 ( archive.org [accessed March 29, 2015]).
↑ J. Jumeau: Historical and technical introduction of fusible alloys and fire safety fusible links . Ed .: Ultimheat Heating University; JPCI China, JPC France, Blue Ink Thailand. ( online on the website of ultimheat.com [PDF; 289 kB ; accessed on March 29, 2015]).

personal data
SURNAME	Wood, Barnabas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American dentist and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH	May 17, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH	Guilderland , New York
DATE OF DEATH	May 30, 1875
Place of death	Albany , New York

[1] Finding Aid for the Barnabas Wood Papers MS.3459. Biographical / Historical Note. In: Special Collections Online. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, accessed March 30, 2015 .

[plastic_metallic_filling-2] Barnabas Wood: Dr. B. Wood's plastic metallic filling . Embraced in letters patent granted March 20, 1860, patent for the improvement allowed. 1860, OCLC 656586407 ( archive.org [accessed March 29, 2015]).

[3] J. Jumeau: Historical and technical introduction of fusible alloys and fire safety fusible links . Ed .: Ultimheat Heating University; JPCI China, JPC France, Blue Ink Thailand. ( online on the website of ultimheat.com [PDF; 289 kB ; accessed on March 29, 2015]).