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Since 1945, Intoximeters Inc. has been involved in manufacturing products
to assist in Drink/Drive (DUI) enforcement. Dr. Glenn C. Forrester, the
founder of the company was a pioneer in the field and created a company that
has throughout its history invested its resources towards producing the
highest quality alcohol testing instrumentation available.
The law enforcement application for Intoximeters instruments has evolved
from the 1930's and 1940's. At first breath testing was developed as an
alternative to the invasive and costly process of collecting and analyzing
blood samples.
The first instruments used wet chemistry techniques to perform this
function. Throughout the evolution of the breath alcohol analyzer,
photo-spectrometry, gas chromatography and infrared spectroscopy have been
utilized as primary analytical methodologies to determine the alcohol
concentration in a human breath sample. Most recently the instruments that
Intoximeters markets utilize electrochemical sensors .
Traditionally, these evidential testing systems have been designed as
desktop analyzers and these systems
are one segment of the current law enforcement market.
A second segment of the law enforcement market evolved in the early
1970's as it became apparent that a great deal of police officer time was
lost when a subject was brought back to the station for testing and found to
have an alcohol concentration below the legal limit. The solution to this
problem was handheld, portable
analyzers that could be one of the
field sobriety tests (FST) performed by an officer in the field. Often the
last FST performed by the officer, this test would produce an alcohol
estimation that would help the officer in his decision making process. These
devices are commonly called: Screeners , Pre-arrest Screeners (PAS),
or Pre-arrest Breath Testers (PBTs).
The early screening devices were crude, some used semi-conductor sensors
that were not specific for alcohol while others used fuel cell based
systems.
Intoximeters chose to offer instruments using fuel cells, and
although the first fuel cell based instruments were crude, Intoximeters
dedicated its efforts to perfect the manufacturing of the sensor, as
well it developed better methods of interpreting the output from that
sensor. This is evident in the evolution of the Alco Sensor line of
products, and is the reason that the current Alco Sensor Line offers the
most accurate hand held breath alcohol analyzers today.
(See Fuel Cell Paper)
The accuracy of Intoximeters' state of the art handheld fuel cell
instruments are on par with the accuracy of infrared bench-top evidential
analyzers. This evolution has lead to a third segment within the law
enforcement market. Portable
Evidential Systems.
This market is being addressed by the manufacturers in two ways. The
bench-top systems are being made smaller and designed with the capability to
be powered by mobile generators or 12 VDC. The idea is that these devices
can be used in the field. A second approach is to take the handheld
instruments and integrate it with palm sized computers and printers to offer
solutions that can be run off of a 12 volt power source or by the battery
power in a self contained package. This market is yet to be clearly defined.
As has been the case throughout the development of breath alcohol
analytical instrumentation, Intoximeters is committed to invest its
resources to remain at the forefront of the development of new and better
methods to determine alcohol concentrations in a human subject. Intoximeters
will continue to strive to build applications that best meet the demands of
the law enforcement officer.
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