Welcome Band-Aids Earle Dickson invented the Band-Aid on this date in 1921. Dickson, who was a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson, was newly married at the time. Wife Josephine, new to cooking and cleaning, cut and burned her fingers daily. In an effort to help Josephine dress the wounds, Dickson clipped together pieces of adhesive tape and cotton gauze as a bandage. Eventually, Josephine needed so many coverings that Dickson had to create ready-made bandages by attaching cotton gauze squares at regular intervals to an adhesive strip, which he then covered with crinoline. Josephine could then cut them into strips. Earle told his supervisor at J & J about his invention, and soon the company started producing the first adhesive bandage, by hand and under the Band-Aid brand. J & J sold 3,000 dollars worth of Band-Aids during the products first year.
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