Hypospray
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The hypospray is a fictitious version of a jet injector. Sometimes it is used as a verb "to hypospray" = "to use a hypospray on".
[edit] In the Star Trek scenario
In the Star Trek universe it was developed by the mid-22nd century, as it is featured in Star Trek: Enterprise. Many people, such as Dr. Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, are seen to use it.
The real-life jet injector is usually applied at the top of the arm, but the fictional hypospray is sometimes applied on the neck. Presumably when used in the neck it delivers the medication intravenously or intraarterially and when used on the arm it delivers intramuscularly. The hypospray can also be applied through clothing.
The hypospray is extremely versatile as the medicine vials can be quickly swapped out from the bottom of the hypospray. As the hypospray is bloodless, it is not contaminated by use. This allows it to be used on many people until the supply of medicine runs out.
The concept of the hypospray was developed when producers on the original Star Trek series discovered that NBC's broadcast standards and practices prohibited the use of hypodermic syringes to inject medications; the needleless hypospray sidestepped this issue.[1] The prop used in the original series appeared to be a modified fuel injector for a large automotive diesel engine.
[edit] In other scenarios
A device that functioned as a hypospray was described on 23 November 1947 in the "The Comic Strip Killer" episode of the radio show The Shadow. It was described to work "on the basis of a high-pressure air gun. You hold it against the skin and it blasts fluid, painlessly, through the pores. The patient doesn't even feel the injection." The characters in the story were told that it was such a new device that the "first real publicity about it is in this week's Life Magazine."
The original Mission: Impossible series mentioned the hypospray in Episode 24 of Season 1. In it, Rollin Hand (Martin Landau) tells Dr. Selby (William Schallert) to "Get the hyposprays ready." The doctor mentions "the spray will go right through his clothing and penetrate the skin." This episode, entitled "The Train", aired on 18 March 1967. (The television show Star Trek: Enterprise used an almost identical ploy to trick the antagonist of the episode "Stratagem". Episode 14 of Season 3 aired on 2 February 2004. The original Mission: Impossible and Star Trek series were both made by Desilu Productions.)
[edit] In the real world
There are examples of a real jet injector being called a hypospray: see Jet injector.
[edit] References
- ^ Whitfield, Stephen E., and Roddenberry, Gene, The Making of Star Trek, Ballantine Books, 1969, ASIN B000HYXX5S; reprinted by Titan Books Ltd., 1991, ISBN 1852863633
