Earle Dickson was an American inventor best known for creating Band-Aid® brand adhesive bandages. He lived in Highland Park, New Jersey, for a large portion of his life.
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.
