[SOA] Press release - Lloyd's Cold Still (Medicinal Plant Extractor) comes home to the Lloyd Library and Museum

[Anna Heran]

PRESS RELEASE                                                  

 

Contact:  Maggie Heran, Executive Director

Lloyd Library & Museum

513-721-3707

mheran at lloydlibrary.org

 

 

 

For Immediate Release-April 18, 2012

 

Lloyd Library and Museum (LLM) Acquires Lloyd Extractor-

An Artifact Important to the History of Pharmacy and Business in
Cincinnati

 

 

                LLM has recently acquired a significant piece of
history-an extractor patented by its founder John Uri Lloyd.  It was
donated to LLM by AYSL Corporation through Albert Y. Leung, Ph.D.  This
particular unit has not only a long and interesting history, but also
significantly touches upon the history of pharmacy, Cincinnati business,
the University of Michigan, and Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc.

                In 1904, John Uri Lloyd (JUL) filed his first patent on
(what he named) Concentrator for Solutions, the device that has since
come to be known as Lloyd's Cold Still or Lloyd's Extractor.
Pharmacists had long recognized that when heat was applied to plant
extracts the efficacy of the products was diminished.  In developing his
concentrator and extractor, JUL adopted the then-novel principle of
applying heat to the surface, rather than the bottom, of the liquid.
Although methods for manufacturing drugs have changed throughout the
years, contemporary herbalists often use JUL's method because it
produces more effective products.

                The Lloyd Extractor now on display at LLM has
identifying cooper plates that read: "Lloyd's Patent Extracting
Apparatus patented March, 9, 1920-number 1332908-M[anufactured] by
Brighton Copperworks, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, Coppersmiths & Engineers
to the Chemical Industry."  JUL's Extractor was first manufactured by
F.C. Deckebach & Sons Company of Cincinnati, which was purchased by
Brighton around 1934.  In 1986 Brighton was sold to Trinity Industries,
Inc.; and, in 2002, Enerfab, located at 4955 Spring Grove Ave,
Cincinnati, acquired Trinity.  Today, Enerfab makes containers and
related products for the food and beverage industries, as well as the
chemical and pharmaceutical industries.  

                The Lloyd Extractor has found a most appropriate home at
LLM-an artifact relevant to Cincinnati's pharmacy and business history.
There is, however, another story about this particular extractor that
integrates even more pharmacy history, as well as connections to the
University of Michigan (U of M).  In 1914, Henry Kraemer, graduate of
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, left his position of Professor of
Botany and Pharmacognosy at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
(Kraemer corresponded with JUL-LLM archives holds letters from his
Philadelphia years, 1879-1909) for another at U of M.  During World War
I, under the direction of Kraemer, practical work in pharmacognosy was
expanded; it was around this time, that the Lloyd extractor, now at LLM,
was purchased for use in U of M's pharmacy and pharmacognosy department.
The extractor remained on U of M's campus for a number of years.

                In 1962, Albert Y. Leung became a student at U of M and
received both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy.  He went on to have an
active career in natural products working or consulting with many
institutes and companies.  From the National Cancer Institute to
Bristol-Myers, Leung lent his expertise in Traditional Chinese Medicine
(TCM) and producing genuine high-quality traditional extracts using
modern technology.  A few years ago, LLM learned that Leung held this
particular Lloyd Extractor.  He had used it as a student at U of M and
later in his pharmacognostic work with botanical raw materials.  LLM and
Leung began discussing a loan of the extractor until the end of 2011
when he donated it outright-the same year he received the 2011 Alumni
Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the College of Pharmacy,
the University of Michigan, for his contributions to the advancement of
herbal medicine, especially in TCM.  Leung has now made a major
contribution to the history of pharmacy through his donation of the
Lloyd Extractor.

                Plans are underway to develop a permanent educational
exhibit at LLM titled "The History of Pharmaceutical Chemistry," which
will display the Lloyd Extractor-now located in the Reading Room it is
presently a source of curiosity, drawing comments and questions from
visitors.  In addition, the permanent exhibit will feature the Soxhlet
Extractor, a donation from Research Triangle Institute of North
Carolina, used by scientists in the 1960s to test and produce
cancer-fighting agents from the Pacific Yew, Taxus brevolia, which led
to today's important anti-cancer medicine Taxol(r).  Along with these
two important extractors, the exhibit will include other pharmaceutical
equipment from Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc. and Benet's Pharmacy, a
long-time Cincinnati establishment and compounding pharmacy that
recently closed its business near Piatt Park and made a significant
donation of artifacts and other materials to LLM from the pharmacy.  The
exhibit will culminate with the George Rieveschl, Jr. Research Center
featuring books and artifacts once belonging to Rieveschl; as well as
his research papers on the development of Benadyl(r) from LLM's George
Rieveschl, Jr. Papers.

The Lloyd Library and Museum, located at 917 Plum Street, downtown
Cincinnati, is a local and regional cultural treasure.  The library was
developed in the nineteenth century by the Lloyd brothers-John Uri,
Curtis Gates, and Nelson Ashley to provide reference sources for Lloyd
Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical companies
of the period.  Today the library is recognized worldwide by the
scientific community as a vital research center. The library holds,
acquires, and provides access to both historic and current materials on
the subjects of pharmacy, botany, horticulture, herbal and alternative
medicine, pharmacognosy, and related topics.  Although our collections
have a scientific focus, they also have relevance to humanities topics,
such as visual arts and foreign languages through resources that feature
botanical and natural history illustrations, original artworks, and
travel literature, thereby revealing the convergence of science and art.
The Lloyd is open to anyone with an interest in these topics.  Free
parking is available for patrons and visitors behind the library
building.  For more information, visit the Lloyd website at
www.lloydlibrary.org.

 

Lloyd Library and Museum

917 Plum Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

513-721-3707

www.lloydlibrary.org

Open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Open the third Saturday of the month, September through May, 9:00 a.m.
to 4:00 p.m.

 

 

Anna K Heran

Archivist, Exhibits Coordinator, and  Education & Outreach Coordinator

Lloyd Library and Museum

917 Plum Street

Cincinnati, OH 45202

513/721-3707

archivist at lloydlibrary.org

Bringing Science, Art, and History to Life/

Because the Past is the Path to the Future

 

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