 Earle Dickson, an employee of Johnson and
Johnson developed the Band-Aid@ in 1920 for his
accident-prone wife, Josephine. His employer, Johnson and
Johnson, a company launched by pharmacist Robert Johnson and his two
brothers, produced large, dry, cotton and gauze dressings,
which remained sterile in germ-resistant packaging until
opened. They formed their Company upon the premise set forth by Sir
Joseph Lister, of Listerine fame, at a speech given in
Philadelphia in 1876, that surgical procedures should be sterile, to
reduce the alarmingly high post-operative mortality rates,
which were 90% in Britain at the time.
Earle attached small pieces of this sterile gauze,
produced by his employer, to the center of strips of surgical
tape to bandage poor Josephine's wounds. A colleague of his
encouraged him to pitch his invention to Management, which he did.
Management initially dismissed his idea, but later reversed its
position when Earle demonstrated how easily the bandage could easily
be applied by oneself. The powers that be realized the earning
potential of this invention, snatched Earle's idea, and ran with
it.
The original bandages Johnson and Johnson produced, were not only
handmade, but were rather large in size at 2 1/2" in width, and 18"
in length. Needless to say, first year sales left much to be
desired. By 1924, Johnson and Johnson revamped the production
process of the Band-Aid@ by using machines, and by cutting down the
size of the product. Sales skyrocketed, and Earle's vision became a
reality.
By the time of his death in 1961, after being rewarded by Johnson
and Johnson with a token vice-presidency and later with a seat on
the Board of Directors, sales of the Band-Aid@ exceeded ,000,000,
and production to date exceeds one hundred billion. All of this
wealth can be attributed to a frustrated husband with an idea, a
clumsy, accident-prone wife, a piece of sterile gauze, and a piece
of surgical tape.
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note:
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accident-prone: 易出事故的
gauze: 纱布
germ-resistant: 抗菌的
Listerine: 李斯特防腐液
post-operative mortality rates: 术后死亡率
sterile gauze: 消毒纱布
surgical tape:
外用绷带
revamp:
修补
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