A master purveyor of dental supplies and anesthesia machinery, Dr. Jay A. Heidbrink (1875–1957; dentist-anesthetist and manufacturer, Minneapolis, Minnesota) was perhaps the most successful American businessman and dentistanesthetist of all time. Among his more unusual acquisitions were the rights to “Anacin” and to the trademark “AN-A-CIN” (top left) for a “NO NARCOTICS” (bottom left) analgesic compounding of acetaphenetidin (phenacetin), aspirin, quinine sulfate, and caffeine. Dentist Heidbrink advertised An-a-cin for toothaches, of course, as well as for “headache, …, earache, neuritis, neuralgia, colds, la grippe, influenza, rheumatism, tooth extraction and periodical pains …” (top right). After a mild reprimand by the American Medical Association (1925) for hyperbolic advertising, Heidbrink assigned the An-a-cin trademark successively to the Anacin Chemical Company (1926) and the Anacin Company (1927). Note that the depicted tin (bottom right) proves that even though technically manufactured by the “ANACIN CO.,” An-a-cin was still being distributed by the “HEIDBRINK CO.” Dr. Heidbrink and his namesake company would eventually forsake “Oh, my headache” tins in favor of a merger with the “Ohio” line of anesthesia machinery. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
A master purveyor of dental supplies and anesthesia machinery, Dr. Jay A. Heidbrink (1875–1957; dentist-anesthetist and manufacturer, Minneapolis, Minnesota) was perhaps the most successful American businessman and dentistanesthetist of all time. Among his more unusual acquisitions were the rights to “Anacin” and to the trademark “AN-A-CIN” (top left) for a “NO NARCOTICS” (bottom left) analgesic compounding of acetaphenetidin (phenacetin), aspirin, quinine sulfate, and caffeine. Dentist Heidbrink advertised An-a-cin for toothaches, of course, as well as for “headache, …, earache, neuritis, neuralgia, colds, la grippe, influenza, rheumatism, tooth extraction and periodical pains …” (top right). After a mild reprimand by the American Medical Association (1925) for hyperbolic advertising, Heidbrink assigned the An-a-cin trademark successively to the Anacin Chemical Company (1926) and the Anacin Company (1927). Note that the depicted tin (bottom right) proves that even though technically manufactured by the “ANACIN CO.,” An-a-cin was still being distributed by the “HEIDBRINK CO.” Dr. Heidbrink and his namesake company would eventually forsake “Oh, my headache” tins in favor of a merger with the “Ohio” line of anesthesia machinery. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Honorary Curator, ASA’s Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.
