Bessie Blount Griffin
Physical therapist who built a feeding device for amputee veterans
At a glance
- Inventor
- Bessie Blount Griffin
- Life
- 1914–2009
- Birthplace
- Hickory, Virginia
- Country
- United States / United Kingdom
- Region
- United States
- Era
- 1900–1950
- Fields
- Medicine & Health, Everyday Life
- Evidence
- Documented
- Records
- 0 in this archive
What they did
Working with wounded servicemen after the Second World War, Blount devised an electrically driven device that delivered a mouthful of food at a time through a tube when the patient bit down on it, letting men without hands feed themselves.
Historical context
She taught patients to write with their teeth and feet, and designed around independence rather than assistance.
Obstacles
Unable to interest United States agencies, she assigned rights to the French government in 1952. She later retrained as a forensic document examiner and studied at the document laboratory in England.
The legacy
Her work is an early example of assistive technology designed by a clinician alongside the people who would use it.
The evidence
Contemporary press coverage of the invalid feeding device, 1948–1952
Primary recordBessie Blount Griffin biographical record
Institutional record
Documentation strength
- 2
- Sources
- 1
- Primary
- 2
- Publishers
Calculated from the sources actually attached to this record — the closer a source sits to the original document, the more it counts. It is never asserted by hand.