Earle Dickinson

A staple in first-aid kits and bathroom cabinets for decades, the invention of the adhesive bandage came from a Johnson & Johnson cotton buyer named Earle Dickson who sought a better, practical solution to an everyday problem. His success resulted in the first commercial dressing for small wounds that consumers could apply with ease, and created a market that continues to thrive today.

In 1921, Dickson created a prototype of cotton gauze and adhesive strips covered with crinoline that could be peeled off to expose the adhesive, easily allowing the gauze and strip to be wrapped over a cut. Later that year, company leaders brought the product to market. The first commercial BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages were handmade and 18 inches long, 2.5 inches wide, with a center inch-wide strip of gauze and could be cut into smaller pieces. Improvements soon followed, including a manufacturing apparatus that produced individual bandages in a smaller, more practical size still familiar today.