Maxwell Wilber Becton (August 22, 1868 – January 2, 1951) was an American industrialist and businessman.
[3] Becton was born on his family's plantation in Kinston, North Carolina on August 22, 1868.
[1][3] He moved to Boston in 1895 and co-founded Randall and Becton, a medical thermometer company.
[1][4] The two men discovered that they grew up fifty miles apart in North Carolina and had the same birthday.
[4] After buying out Randall, Becton and Dickinson created a partnership to sell medical thermometers and syringes, in 1897.
[1] As the company expanded, it grew to become a manufacturer of instruments for surgery, dentistry, and veterinary.
[4] They also made medical bags[4] and invented new instruments, including the binaural stethoscope and the mercurial sphygmomanometer that measured blood pressure.
[4] He was a member of the Freemans, belonging to the Boiling Springs Lodge, the Knights Templar, and the Lafayette Commandery.
[1] He was president of the Rutherford Rotary Club, a director of the YMCA, and a member the New York Southern Society.