Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with George Waters

Titles: Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with George Waters (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: George Waters was born in South Dakota. He was educated in Minnesota. He graduated from college in Massachusetts. He headed several companies that designed and manufactured medical devices from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. He remained a board chairman until the early 1990s. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Family background; service in World War II; education; his father’s manufacturing background. Waters-Conley company: phonographs, development of home pasteurizer for farmers. Waters Instruments: oximeters, densitometers, cardiotachometer, and kymographic camera, and merging with Flowtronics. Sales at trade shows; engineering and entrepreneurs prompted by medical institutions and physicians; consolidation in the medical device industry; impact of Device Control Act and FDA regulation; membrane oxygenator and pulsatile preservation for kidneys; experiences working with the Mayo Clinic; dye curve catheter versus thermal dilution curve catheter; change in Mayo Clinic's attitude toward commercialization; thoughts on development of medical device industry in Minnesota: role of Mayo Clinic, labor pool, support services, and capital; experiences running a manufacturing concern.

Dates

• 08/12/1999 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Waters, George Franklin
• interviewer: Rhees, David J. Ph.D.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 87
• Accession Number: AV2001.104.16

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Project' <OH 87>

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassette 30 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 01:25:05 running time

Subjects

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