A Brief History of Breathalyzers
Ever wonder who invented breathalyzers, when was it invented and what brought about the invention of breathalyzers? Believe it or not, there was a precursor to today’s breathalyzers and it’s roots date back to the thirties – an era of both the Great Depression and Prohibition.
It began around the time when Prohibition (a period in 1920~1933, where production, importation, transportation and sales of alcoholic beverages were banned in the whole of US) has just been repealed in the mid-thirties and the police had to deal with a large upswing in cases of drunk driving. As it was difficult to get convictions for criminals and other wrong-doers without concrete evidence, the law enforcement decided to turn to science.
Less than 5 years from the end of the Great Depression, the inquiry on behalf of law enforcement in Indiana first sparked the invention of the Drunkometer, by Rolla N. Hager in 1938.
And it was in 1954 that Robert F. Borkenstein, an officer in Indiana took Hager’s invention and made vast improvement onto it and and finally invented the first breathalyzer which is far more portable and accurate than the drunkometer and it has been in use ever since.
Now, after decades of technological advancement, breathalyzers models has been greatly improved over the years and we have basic breathalyzers models (using semi-conductor sensor) to professional grade breathalyzer (that utilizes fuel cell technology) to easily and accurately measure blood alcohol content (BAC) in a person body within seconds.
Regretfully, drink driving- the problem that breathalyzers were meant to eliminate, is still a huge problem in today’s society, causing injuries and loss of numerous lives on the road.
Drink Driving situation in Singapore
Driving under the influence of alcohol is one of the leading cause of traffic accidents and injuries all over the world and just in year 2017 alone, there were 143 accidents and 2,044 people arrested in Singapore due to drink driving.
*In Singapore, if you are found to have more than 0.08% BAC while driving, you are considered legally impaired and will be arrested and charged for drink driving.
Uses of Breathalyzers in Today’s Society
Breathalyzer used to be a tool that only law enforcement teams make use of to nab drunk drivers but nowadays it is also widely available to the general public and they are commonly used for :
- Companies ensuring that staffs are not intoxicated before allowing them to handle machinery
- Construction firms making sure that construction workers are not under influence of alcohol before allowing them to start work
- Parent checking on their children to ensure that they did not consume any alcohol especially after coming home from a party
- Alcohol rehabilitation centers or social workers testing on those under their care to ensure that they are indeed keeping away from alcohol
- Club houses (or places serving alcoholic beverages) providing blood alcohol content level testing to dissuade patrons/customers from driving after they have drank
- Drivers doing self-check to ensure that they are below the legal limit before driving (even if your BAC level is below the legal limit, we will still strongly recommend that as a socially responsible driver, you should not drink and drive!)
Unitech Supplies: Breathalyzers in Singapore Market
At Unitech Supplies, we offers a selection of high quality personal breathalyzer (semi-conductor type) and professional grade breathalyzers (fuel cell type) researched and manufactured by Sentech Korea Corp, which is one of the most reputable breathalyzer manufacturers globally.
The Alcoscan series breathalyzers provide you with instant and accurate results conveniently and on top of that, the breathalyzers can be used with disposable mouthpieces to ensure maximum hygiene even when being shared with other users.
Currently we offers 6 different models (more will be included) of breathalyzers with different features for different needs. Regardless of whether you are opting for the basic model like the AL6000 or the more professional grade type like the AL9000, you can be assured that you are getting the best that the market has to offer as all our breathalyzer has went through rigorous testings and acquired international certifications like the CE and DOT to back their quality.
Comparing the Breathalyzers that we supply in Singapore
- Alcoscan AL6000 – the most basic, frill free model that we offer. The AL6000 is a sleek portable breathalyzer that uses semi-conductor type sensor and can be used up to 200 times or a year (whichever comes first) before requiring re-calibration. And for its re-calibration, instead of having to send it to a lab, you can simply purchase a pre-calibrated replacement sensor module to replace the existing one to have the breathalyzer re-calibrated.
- Alcoscan AL6000P – Same features as AL6000 but it comes with a set of printer which allows you to print out the result of the alcohol testing.
- Alcoscan AL7000 – Slimmer and more elegantly designed breathalyzer that uses semi-conductor type sensor module and can be used up to 300 times or a year (whichever comes first) before requiring a re-calibration. Same as AL6000 and AL6000P, you can simply replace the sensor module with a pre-calibrated one to have the breathalyzer re-calibrated.
- Alcoscan ALC-1 – Similar design as the AL7000, however this model uses professional grade fuel cell type sensor which makes it 4 times more accurate and it can be used up to 1,000 times or a year before a re-calibration is required. It also comes with replaceable senor module where you simply replace the existing sensor module with a pre-calibrated one to have the alcohol tester recalibrated. Recommended for organisations or anyone who will be doing using it very frequently.
- Alcoscan AL9000 – similar as ALC-1, it uses fuel cell type sensor and can be used up to 500 times or a year before needing to be sent to the lab for re-calibration. This model comes with a software and can be connected to a PC to allow documenting of the test results onto the PC – especially popular among organisations where they requires documentation of the test results.
March & April Promotion!!
From now till end of April 2018, if you purchase any Alcoscan breathalyzer from us, you will receive 20 Free mouthpieces from us if you simply do either of the following:
- Indicating Free20MP on your subject header in your email enquiry or
- Telling us that you want to redeem the 20 Free mouthpieces when contacting us
Hear from you soon!