The inventors of the obstetric forceps and the obstetric lever
Thiery, M.
Verhandelingen - Koninklijke Academie Voor Geneeskunde van Belgie 54(1) 45-53; Discussion: 54-55
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0302-6469 PMID: 1636321 Document Number: 395880
A multiple lineage is proposed for the invention of the obstetric forceps. Having been conceived by a member of the Chamberlen family in fifteenth- or seventeenth-century England, the instrument seems to have been reinvented in Flanders by Jan Palfyn and in Holland by Rogier Roonhuyse. Later, Roonhuyse invented a more effective instrument for coping with the impacted head: the obstetric lever. Palfyn's "Iron Hands" inspired Dussé to produce the "French" forceps which bears his name.