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Earle Dickson

Band Aids

• Earle Dickson was employed as a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson when he invented the band-aid in 1921.
• He noticed his wife 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 saw a problem with this method and 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.