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THE INVENTION & HISTORY OF BAND-AID® BRAND

BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages Beginnings

Who hasn't used BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages? In a world full of cuts, scrapes, blisters and bruises it seems hard to imagine life without those little adhesive bandages. Of course, there have always been cuts and scrapes, but there haven't always been adhesive bandages. This fact was painfully clear to a young housewife named Josephine Dickson.

Back in 1920, this newlywed was living in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with her husband Earle, and though married life agreed with her, housekeeping did not. Not that she didn't try. When Earle came home from his job as a cotton buyer at Johnson & Johnson, Josephine would always have dinner on the table. Unfortunately, she'd also have several cuts or burns on her fingers. Without an adhesive bandage, Josephine had no easy way of bandaging her own cuts. Earle had to cut pieces of adhesive tape and cotton gauze and make a bandage for each wound. This happened day after day-and, day after day Josephine needed more bandages. They were in a real bind. Finally, after several weeks of kitchen accidents, Earle hit upon an idea. (Luckily for Johnson & Johnson, his idea was not to go out and hire a cook.) No, Earle sat down and prepared some ready-made bandages by placing squares of cotton gauze at intervals along an adhesive strip and covering them with crinoline. Now all Josephine had to do was cut off a length of the strip and wrap it over her cut. In a way, it was a mother who was responsible for the invention of the BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandage.

Earle soon told his boss at work about his new invention and soon the first adhesive bandages were being produced and sold under the world famous BAND-AID® trademark. Earle was eventually rewarded with a position as Vice President in the company, where he stayed until his retirement. As for Josephine, history does not record whether she ever mastered the art of accident-free cooking. But we do know she had plenty of BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages available just in case. Earle Dickson may not have realized what a cutting edge product he was inventing, but it certainly stuck around.

For All Your Healing Needs

BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages have long been a staple in a family's first-aid kit as a source of healing, comfort and protection. And as the brand has expanded over the years, so too has the technology and innovation behind it. BAND-AID® Brand has moved from being strictly a bandage to becoming a brand that offers a wide variety of products to meet the diverse needs of today's active families and their lifestyles.