in 1948, bd faced new leadership as fairleigh s. dickinson, jr. and henry p. becton, sons of the founders, took over the company. their 24-year tenure was a time of rapid development for bd. the company grew within the u.s. as well as internationally. in 1949, it opened its first manufacturing site outside of new jersey in columbus, nebraska. in 1961, it established a manufacturing facility in canaan, connecticut. bd also soon expanded to canada (1951), mexico (1952), france (1955), and brazil (1956). the tenure of fairleigh s. dickinson, jr. and henry p. becton was also a time of significant product innovation. in 1950, bd's first sterile disposable product, a blood collection set, was developed and sold to the american red cross. in 1954, bd introduced the first completely disposable syringe made of glass: bd hypak. this innovative product was used in a large-scale field test of the polio vaccine developed by dr. jonas salk. one year later, bd entered the microbiology field through the acquisition of the baltimore biological laboratory. in 1961, the company introduced its disposable bd plastipak syringe. under the new leadership the company also went public (1962) and appeared for the first time in the fortune 500 list (1970).