A cut above: the Band-Aid. Photograph: Martin Godwin
Band-Aid sticking plasters seem such an obvious idea that it's strange to think they were invented as late as 1921 - by Earle Dickson (1892-1961) of New Jersey, a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson. What on earth did people do when they cut their fingers and grazed their knees before this date? They used bandages, of course; but these were bulky things and not always hygienic.
Dickson's design came by accident - or lots of little accidents. In 1917 he married Josephine Frances Knight, who proved to be a little clumsy in the kitchen. She cut herself so often (what was going on in that kitchen?) that her husband eventually made up a roll of instant plaster bandages from adhesive tape and cotton gauze.
Persuaded by colleagues to show this to the brothers Johnson themselves, Dickson soon sealed his fate and made his fortune. His triumph didn't occur instantly, however, as the Johnsons needed a little persuasion to manufacture Dickson's plaster roll. Initial sales of the hand-made product were slow, and just $3,000 worth were sold in 1921 (this was perhaps because the first rolls were unnecessarily big, measuring two and a half by eighteen inches.)
Sales took off after Johnson & Johnson decided to give free Band-Aids to Boy Scout troops as a publicity stunt. This did the trick - as, of course, did the clever name coined by W Johnson Kenyon, a Johnson & Johnson mill superintendent. From 1924, "Band-Aid" was also made in different sizes. The product was sterilized from 1939, and made with vinyl tape rather than cotton gauze from 1958. Packaging design and advertising were intelligent and well-executed. Not surprisingly, Johnson & Johnson says that sales have topped over 100 billion.
As for Dickson, he was made a vice-president of the company, and a member of the board of directors. At the time of his death, the annual turnover of Band-Aid was $30m. Since then, Band-Aid has become available in any number of guises. Children can cover their legs and arms in their choice of Batman, Hello Kitty, Barbie, Spider Man and Spongebob Square Pants (glows in the dark, this one), and I'm sure there are many more varieties on sale.
Band Aid, as opposed to Band-Aid, was also a giant sticking plaster of sort - a highly successful music industry charity set up by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, all a long, long way from Mrs Dickson's bloodstained New Jersey kitchen.
Read all Jonathan Glancey's Classics of everyday design
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