French gauge
Escala francesa de Charrière
- Date
- c. 1850 · confidence low
- Place
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Credited to
- Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A sizing system for the outer diameter of catheters devised by surgical-instrument maker Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière in Paris, where each French unit (Fr) equals one third of a millimeter.
What it led to
- International standardization of catheter and tube sizing
- Compatibility between medical-instrument manufacturers
- Gauge scales for needles and endoscopic instruments