You must have had cuts, scrapes, blisters and bruises numerous times. And you may have used Band aids as many times. Have you ever paused to think, who invented this tiny bandage, and why he ever thought of inventing something like a Band Aid?
The story goes like this. The year was 1920. Josephine married Earl Dickson. Josephine was a devoted housewife. And Earl was a cotton buyer in New Jersey, USA. One does not know why, but Josephine was extremely accident-prone. In the first week after her marriage, she cut her finger twice with the kitchen knife. After that it only got worse. She would keep cutting herself or burning her fingers and her husband would need ready bandage to cover up the wound.
Josephine could not easily bandage her own wounds. Earl, her husband, would cut pieces of adhesive tape and cotton gauze and make a bandage for each wound.
When Josephine began to hurt herself all too often, Earl came up with an idea. He decided to make some ready-to-use bandages. He took a long adhesive (sticky) strip, and placed squares of cotton gauze at intervals along its length. Now all Josephine had to do when she cut herself was to cut off a length of the strip and wrap it over her cut. This took just 30 seconds.
Earl was working for a company called Johnson and Johnson. When they heard of this innovative idea, they decided to make these small bandages on a large scale and gave it the name ‘Band Aid’.
Today Band Aid is a common household name, and we all think of Earl Dickson’s tiny invention whenever we cut or bruise ourselves.
