The Classification of Items

Class 1	10010 – 15440	Drugs, chemicals, biological stains.
	15900 – 18280	Biological products.
Class 2	20010 – 20420	Surgical dressings.
Class 3	30010 – 35590	Surgical instruments.
	36010 – 38910	Surgical appliances, miscellaneous diagnostic instruments and surgical supplies.
Class 4	40010 – 44910	Laboratory equipment and supplies.
Class 5	50020 – 57030	Dental equipment and supplies.
Class 6	60020 – 61730	X-ray equipment and supplies.
Class 7	70000 – 71012	Furniture.
	71020 – 71390	Physiotherapy equipment.
	71510 – 71780	Hospital linen and bedding.
	72010 – 74320	Mess equipment and supplies.
	74510 – 74955	Cleaning and preserving equipment and supplies.
	75020 – 76700	Stationary and miscellaneous office equipment and supplies.
	77010 – 79550	Miscellaneous hospital equipment and supplies.
Class 8	80010 – 81413	Veterinary equipment and supplies.
Class 9	91010 – 99630	Field equipment and supplies.

Remark:

Supplemental Drug Medical Items formerly listed in Class 1K and the biological stains formerly numbered from 15200 to 15440 inclusive, have been renumbered as Class 1 or Class 9 Items; they may still appear in some Manuals published and issued before mid-1944. A typical example, taken at random is: TM 8-285 War Department Technical Manual, “Treatment of Casualties from Chemical Agents”, War Department, 15 April 1944 listing medical items for first-aid and treatment of Chemical Warfare casualties, such as Item No. 1K24810 – Eye Solution BAL, 1/2 oz., with Separate Dropper which became Item No. 9109525 – Eye Solution, BAL, 1/2 oz., with separate Dropper.

Likewise, some Spare Parts Kits used for Stoves and Burners can be identified under ‘special’ combined numbers, such as indicated in TM 8-615 War Department Technical Manual, “Gasoline Stoves and Burners”, War Department, 25 May 1945 listing such items as Medical Department Kit No. 9R10295, Medical Department No. 9R10005, Manufacturer’s No. 527, Burner One 2,500 B.T.U. Head (including: 3 Vaporizer Assembly – Item No. 9R10330, 1 Filler Plug Gasket – Item No. 9R10304, 1 Valve Stem Packing – Item No. 9R10322, 1 Pump Leather – Item No. 9R10308)

Medical Item Numbering System:

While the United States Army preferred to indicate itemized parts by Stock Number, the Medical Department used Item Numbers. The following series of digits represent the numbering system in use during WW2. During the early phase of WW2, most Item Numbers only had 5 digits. Early 1944 the number of digits increased from 5 to 7. The first digit always indicated the class to which the part belonged, while the other four (i.e. 0001 to 9999) indicated the purchase order within a specific class. The new Army Service Forces Medical Supply Catalog dated 1 March 1944, officially lists the increased series of digits, i.e. 7 instead of only 5; the additional two digits were attributed in order to help identify variants among identical medical items, and the very last two digits were used for this specific purpose (i.e. 00 to 99); when a particular item had no variants, both last digits were always double zero (00).

The Medical Supply Catalog, dated 1 March 1944, lists contents with 7-digit Item Numbers. Since this Catalog superseded former publications introduced 1 June 1943, it would imply that the existing system (5-digits) was gradually modified into a 7-digit numbering system over this period, i.e. between mid 1943 and early 1944, give or take a few months  …

Here follows a typical evolution:
Packet, First-Aid, Parachute or Item No. 97785 (i.e. manufactured before 1944 is now identified as Item No. 9778500 (when officially introduced after 1 March 1944). After WW2, i.e. July 1947, the numbering system changed once more, whereby the 7 digits now appeared in three separate groups, divided by a hyphen, or Item No. 9-226-100; this also entailed a possible change of nomenclature and description, as the item now became designated as First Aid Kit, Parachute.

Medical Form Numbering System:

The United States Army categorized official forms and documents by using a similar system to that used in the Medical Item Classifications. Form Numbers took the form of “Digit 1 – hyphen – 2, or 3 Digits”. The first digit of the form number would indicate which BoS (Branch of Service) the form pertained to, 8 being reserved for forms exclusive to the Medical Department.

Internal Medical Department forms however were itemized simply by a series of alpha-numerical characters. So for example, a form which had only one variant, and had not been amended was classified as Form ## (i.e. Form 14 – Daily journal of receipts and issues (MSD) ). However, forms which had a number of variants, or which had been amended or modified were itemized by the addition of a series of proceeding numbers and digits. The following example is based on Form 52:

Form 52a – Index of patients (card)
Form 52b – Emergency Medical Tag (20 in Booklet in Duplicate)
Form 52c – Field medical card
Form 52d – Field medical record jacket