bd was founded in 1897 by maxwell w. becton and fairleigh s. dickinson, two american businessmen who met on a sales trip. the same year the company made its first sale, a luer-all-glass syringe that sold for $2.50. in 1898, bd acquired its first patent for a medical product. in 1899 the company introduced its first logo which was meant to symbolize guaranteed superior quality of the products provided by bd. in 1904, bd acquired the philadelphia surgical company. this very first acquisition and other early acquisitions significantly expanded the company's manufacturing ability and product offering. two years later, bd incorporated in the state of new jersey and built a manufacturing facility in east rutherford, the first in the u.s. created specifically for the production of thermometers, hypodermic needles, and syringes. in 1924, bd manufactured its first syringe designed specifically for insulin injection. one year later, bd introduced the bd yale luer-lok syringe, designed and patented by fairleigh s. dickinson, sr. it provided a simple and secure method of attaching and removing the needle to and from the syringe. today, luer taper connectors are the standard for syringes in the u.s. in 1947 joseph kleiner developed the evacutainer—a device used to draw blood by vacuum through a needle into a test tube. this product eventually evolved to become the bd vacutainer blood collection system.