dull or sharp, and it was often used in plastic or vascular surgery procedures. The Weitlaner retractor, invented by Franz Weitlaner in 1905, is a self-retaining, finger ring retractor with a cam ratchet lock used for holding back tissue and exposing a surgical site that allows the surgeon to activate using a single hand. His invention inspired the invention of more retractors, such as Adson-Beckman retractors for general surgery and Chung retractors for orthopedic surgery. Forceps Back in the 6th century BC, laboring caused a high mortality rate for both mothers and newborns due to the hours or days of the lasting delivery process. This problem led to the establishment of forceps-assisted delivery in the 16th century by the Chamberlen family. Forceps were later developed over several centuries by leading obstetricians of the time including James Simpson, Neville Barnes, and Christian Kielland. Michael Ellis DeBakey invented one of the most common and well-known DeBkey forceps. The vascular atraumatic forceps (DeBakey)were widely used for grasping vascular tissue and causing minimal damage to the vessels. This invention led to the development of the Dacron aortic graft for the repair of aortic aneurysms. Around the mid 1900s, Alfred Washington Adson, a pioneer in neuroscience at Mayo Clinic, invented Adson forceps that allows the lifting and removal of neural tissue. Hemostat/clamp Hemostats are forceps that aim to obliterate the lumen of vessels and to obtain adherence to the crushed surfaces and vascular hemostasis. Originally, this notion of crushing did not exist and arterial catch forceps simply clamped vessels temporarily prior to ligature or cautery. In 1867, Eugene Koeberle, who accidentally found arterial forceps with a catch closure came away spontaneously without the need for ligature, and invented “pince hémostatique,” which have pin and hole catches. In 1882, the Kocher clamp was created by Emil Theodor Kocher, who significantly contributed to thyroidectomies (removal of all or a part of the thyroid gland) and decompressive craniotomy. This invention decreases the risk of contamination while cutting dense tissue. Later, Dr. William Henry Welch and William Stewart Halsted contributed to the invention of clamps and Halsted-Mosquito Hemostats, which were used to clamp small blood vessels. Kelly clamp, invented by Howard Kelly, has similar functions but it can clamp larger vessels due to the slightly larger jaw. Accordingly, the nomenclature of surgical instruments follows certain patterns, such as a description of the action it performs (for example, scalpel, hemostat),