From Mary Bellis,
Your Guide to Inventors.
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Band-Aid is the trademarked name for bandages sold by the Johnson & Johnson Company.

Earle Dickson Invented the Band-Aid to Save Wife's Fingers

Earle Dickson was employed as a cotton buyer for the Johnson & Johnson when he invented the band-aid in 1921. His wife Josephine Dickson was always cutting her fingers in the kitchen while preparing food.

At that time a bandage consisted of separate gauze and adhesive tape that you would cut to size and apply yourself. Earle Dickson noticed that gauze and adhesive tape she used would soon fall off her active fingers. He decided to invent something that would stay in place and protect small wounds better.

Earle Dickson took a piece of gauze and attached it to the center of a piece of tape, and then covered the product with crinoline to keep it sterile. His boss, James Johnson, saw Earle Dickson's invention and decided to manufacture band-aids to the public and make Earle Dickson vice-president of Johnson & Johnson.

Band-Aids & Boy Scouts

Sales of Band-Aids were slow until Johnson & Johnson decided to give Boy Scout troops free Band-Aids as a publicity stunt. By 1924, Band-Aids were machine made, sold sterilized in 1939, and made with vinyl tape in 1958.